{"product_id":"shichifukujin-the-seven-gods-of-fortune-circa-1650-1750-an-early-to-mid-edo-painting-of-the-classical-japanese-deities-of-fortune-and-luck","title":"Shichifukujin (The Seven Gods of Fortune), Circa 1650-1750. An Early to Mid Edo Painting of the Classical Japanese Deities of Fortune and Luck","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eTitle:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eShichifukujin (The Seven Gods of Fortune), Circa 1650-1750. An Early to Mid Edo Painting of the Classical Japanese Deities of Fortune and Luck\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Attributed to Kano School Artist\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eAn Early to Mid Edo Period, 17th to mid 18th century painting depicting the Shichifukujin, also known as the Seven Gods of Fortune, early Japanese Deities of Fortune and Luck.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eWhile the gods have been recognized in Japan for over a thousand years, only one of them has a native Japanese mythological origin. The others have origins stemming from Mahayana Buddhism and from from Chinese Taoism, which can also explain their differing appearances at times. It should also be noted that the seven gods were not mentioned as a collective until the year 1420, and later compiled by the priest Tenkai, who sought to select deities possessing the perfect virtues of longevity, fortune, popularity, sincerity, kindness, dignity, and magnanimity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eContinuing in a rough chronological order of when they began to be worshiped, are the Seven:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eEbisu\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e, who hails from the period of the gods Izanami and Izanagi, is the god of prosperity and wealth in business, and abundance in crops. Among the gods his figure is most common in modern day establishments, including restaurants and households.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eDaikokuten\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e, God of commerce and prosperity, and at times considered patron to cooks, farmer and bankers. His depiction comes from a syncretic conflation (also known as \u003ci\u003eShinbutsu-shūgō\u003c\/i\u003e) of the Buddhist death deity Mahakala with the Shinto deity Okuninush.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eBishamonten\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e, God of fortune in war and battles. His origins stem from the Hindu god Kubera, and has also been known as \"Vaisravana\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eBenzaiten\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e also stems from Hinduism, as she is derived from the goddess Saraswati. She is the goddess of financial fortune, talen, beauty, and more, being a patron of artists, writers, dancers, and others of the arts.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eJurōjin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e i\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003es the god of the elderly and of longevity, originating from the Chinese Taoist god, the Old Man of the South Pole.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eHotei \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eis the god of fortune and popularity, guardian of children, and patron of diviners and barmen. It was not until the Edo Period that the Japanese began to more firmly believe in Hotei, though his origins stem from Budai, the Chinese monk now venerated as the future or Maitreya Buddha.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThe final deity to be depicted is \u003cb\u003eFukurokuju \u003c\/b\u003e(sometimes omitted due to overlap and confusion with Jurojin),\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eGod of wisdom and longevity. It is believed that he is a Japanese assimilation of the Chinese Three Star Gods.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThe painting has been stamped with the standard red vase of the \u003cb\u003eKano School\u003c\/b\u003e, though I do not recognize the exact artist seals in question here. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eCertainly, it emulates the styles of earlier Kano School artists such as Kano Motonobu, and the depictions of the Shichifukujin do not look to be Late Edo or Meiji, so to place this painting into the Early Edo Period is not unreasonable.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThe painting has been neatly mounted onto a brocade decorated \u003ci\u003ekakejiku\u003c\/i\u003e (hanging scroll), with \u003ci\u003ejikusaki\u003c\/i\u003e (knobs) made of lacquered wood. There is a wooden box to accompany it, preserving the scroll.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eOne painting mounted on a \u003ci\u003ekakejiku\u003c\/i\u003e (hanging scroll), 156 x 91 cm full size, 60 x 78 cm main painting\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThis painting is in good shape, with some rubbing and wear to the outer cover, and a few holes developed at the top, not affecting the painting. There is wear and creasing to the main painting itself, with minor paint chipping in places.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"That Guy With The Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51634172526903,"sku":null,"price":1250.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0281\/1589\/4371\/files\/20260106_175632.jpg?v=1769961084","url":"https:\/\/thatguywiththebooks.com\/products\/shichifukujin-the-seven-gods-of-fortune-circa-1650-1750-an-early-to-mid-edo-painting-of-the-classical-japanese-deities-of-fortune-and-luck","provider":"That Guy With The Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}