Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Daruma

歌川国貞 達磨役七代目市川團十郎 江戸時代

This portrait depicts Danjūrō VII, of the Ichikawa family of Kabuki actors, as the great Buddhist monk Bodhidharma (Daruma, in Japanese), known for the intensity of both his gaze and meditative practice. Apocryphally, Bodhidharma is said to have stared at a wall seated in meditation for nine years-and to have cut away his eyelids after dozing seven years into this long session. It is the large, expressive eyes and strong gaze that form the link between actor and character in this print. This type of visual conflation of two figures is known as mitate, a widely used creative technique during the Edo period in literature, theater, and the visual arts. To create a sense of h...