Actor and Courtesan Ferrying the Buddhist Patriarch Bodhidharma on a Boat Made from the Leaf of a Reed, from Series of untitled historical parodies

Bodhidharma, known as Daruma in Japan, was the legendary 5th- to 6th-century patriarch of Zen Buddhism who traveled from India to China. One tale recounts how he magically crossed the wide and turbulent Yangzi river on a rush leaf, and this was a popular subject in Zen paintings.

This early monochrome print belongs to a subgenre of prints known as parody pictures, or mitate-e. These take elevated themes from classical literature or religion and cast them in contemporary forms, often to humorous effect as a subversive dig at “high” culture. Here, a courtesan and a wakashū, dressed as an apprentice kabuki actor, row a giant rush leaf to help the patriarch cross the river.

Images of Bodhidharma had another level of meaning to those who worked in the Yoshiwara. The standard period of service was 10 years, although most had to work much longer to pay off debts. Yet Bodhidharma spent just nine years meditating in a cave before achieving enlightenment. In a kind of gallows humor among indentured sex workers, Bodhidharma was criticized, tongue in cheek, as a relative slacker by floating world standards. This is seen here, where he rests while the others row; in most images he stands alone on his rush leaf.