Kume Sennin　久米仙人

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Also written 粂仙人. A legendary immortal often depicted in Edo period painting. According to legend recorded in KONJAKU MONOGATARI 今昔物語 (vol.11), Kume Sennin studied the special practices of the immortals at Ryuumonji 龍門寺 in Nara. Having learned how to fly, he flew one day over the Yoshino 吉野 river, and spotted a young woman washing laundry in the river. At the sight of the woman's white legs, he was so struck with passion that his supernatural powers failed him and he tumbled to the ground in front of the woman. This woman became his wife. Kume Sennin was then recruited to help build the capital at Takechi 高市 and was told to move lumber with his special powers. After eight days of intense training, he obtained the protection of Buddha and regaining his supernatural powers, flew the large quantity of wood to its destination in one swoop. For this deed, he received land in Kashihara 橿原 from the emperor, and here he founded Kumedera 久米寺. Pictorial representations of Kume Sennin usually depict him in the act of seeing the woman and tumbling from the sky. A well known example is the folding screen by Soga Shouhaku 曾我蕭白 (1730-81) in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (dated 1759). In *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints Kume Sennin often appeares dressed in the garb of a Chinese sage.

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