Hell Courtesan

One of Kawanabe Kyōsai’s favorite subjects was the Hell Courtesan, a woman said to have lived in Sakai, outside the city of Osaka, during the fifteenth century. Among his paintings and prints of the legendary beauty, none is livelier than this monumental hanging scroll, recently purchased by the Museum.  

Since at least the seventeenth century, stories have circulated about the eccentric Zen monk Ikkyū (1394--1481). According to one, the Hell Courtesan doubted the religiosity of the scruffy monk who visited her brothel one day. She decided to spy on Ikkyū from behind a screen, only to find him engaged in a lively dance with a retinue of skeletons. She immediately recognized the monk’s true enlightened status and became one of his followers.

Kyōsai has depicted the Hell Courtesan, the dancing Ikkyū, and the skeletons in the ukiyo-e style used for popular prints and paintings of the brothels, theaters, and everyday life. However, on the standing carved lacquer screen with its silvered decorative panel, Kyōsai shows autumn grasses with a gibbous moon in the Rinpa style, popular among wealthy merchants for its courtly, decorative elegance. Early in his career Kyōsai had been the follower and son-in-law of the well-known Rinpa master Suzuki Kiitsu, before the latter’s death in 1858.

In most images the Hell Courtesan wears an outer robe ornamented with scenes of Enma, the King of Hell, presiding over his realm. Here Kyōsai has replaced the standard iconography with figures of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. Branches of precious red coral imitate the flames of Hell. The transmutation of frightening, horrific imagery into symbols of good fortune suggests the upturn in Kyosai’s own life after he recovered from the ordeal of imprisonment.

The Seven Gods of Good Fortune are:

--Hotei, a fat, jolly Chinese Buddhist priest who carries a bag of treasures and loves children. He appears on the courtesan’s sash in the role of the bodhisattva Jizō, who intercedes for those in hell and protects children.

--Fukurokuju, an old man with an elongated head, representing long life

--Jurōjin, another god of longevity who is dressed as a Chinese scholar

The two kindly old Chinese gentlemen replace the fierce kings of Hell and dispense blessings instead of punishments.

--Bishamonten, a fierce guardian dressed in armor and holding a spear; he is shown on the lower part of the robe.

--Ebisu, god of good fishing, holding a sea bream and fishing pole

--Daikoku, god of wealth (indicated by large bales of rice), holding a magic mallet

They preside over a bubbling cauldron brimming with jewels and gold coins.

--Benzaiten, the goddess of music, beauty, and learning, is the only one of the seven deities not represented on the robe; Kyōsai has implied that the Hell Courtesan should be seen as her stand-in.