Bodhidharma with a Single Shoe

JAPAN; Kamakura period

This picture illustrates a story about Bodhidharma said to have taken place three years after he passed into parinirvana. Song Yun, a messenger from the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), was returning from the regions west of China when he encountered Bodhidharma somewhere in the Pamir Mountains, holding one shoe and heading west. Song asked him where he was going and Bodhidharma replied “I am going home.” Later, Bodhidharma’s tomb near Shaolin Temple was opened and was found to contain only a single shoe. The inscription in the upper register was written by the Japanese monk Nanbo Shomyo, also known as National Master Daio, and dates the painting to 1296 of the Kamakura period.
Bodhidharma has wide, sharp eyes, a beard, and a severe expression. He holds a straw shoe while remaining barefooted. The lower portion of his robe appears to be swept up by the wind. The eyes are rendered in dark ink, and the brushwork is done in a simple, energetic style.