zengetsuyou rakan　禅月様羅漢

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Ch: chanyueyang luohan. A type of ink painting of arhats or *rakan 羅漢 associated with by the Chinese priest Guanxiu (Jp: Kankyuu 貫休, 832-912) that features exaggerated, grotesque figures. According to the Yizhou Minhualu (Jp: EKISHUU MEIGAROKU 益州名画録; 1006), Guanxiu, also known as Chanyue Dashi (Jp: Zengetsu Daishi 禅月大師), had a dream in which he saw strange images of the sixteen arhats *juuroku rakan 十六羅漢. Upon waking, he made an ink painting of the figures, recording them as grotesquely distorted figures with bulging facial features and copious body hair. This manner came to be known as the Zengetsu style and was widely imitated to the point of becoming one of the major modes of rakan painting in China and Japan. Notable examples in Japan are hanging scroll sets of the Juuroku Rakan at Koudaiji 高台寺 in Kyoto; the Nezu 根津 Museum in Tokyo; and Fujita Museum in Osaka.

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