“His shoes were split apart [in different locations], the barefoot master.”

This large and powerful image of Daruma illustrates one of the most popular legends about the Chinese Zen patriarch. According to this legend, a Chinese court official by the name of Song Yun, while traveling through the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia around the year 520, encountered the already deceased Daruma carrying one shoe. When he reported this to the Emperor, the latter had Daruma’s grave opened, revealing a missing body and only the other shoe. The legend underscores the supernatural powers that were associated with Daruma.

—Yukio Lippit