“His life is not poor but neither is it rich. Pointing to the moon, gazing at the moon, this old fellow really enjoys himself.”¹

Fūgai Ekun’s charming painting of Hotei shows the popular figure as happy and carefree, untethered from worldly concerns—so much so that he looks up and away from the earth, pointing at the moon, which the viewer cannot see. In a way, Hotei’s gesture represents a playful foil to the famous earth-touching gesture of the Buddha, which signaled his enlighten­ment. Instead, Fūgai’s painting suggests a monk on pilgrimage who nonetheless stops on his journey to enjoy the ephemeral pleasure of a moon viewing. The dynamic, curling line of the string from Hotei’s sack, however, indicates that even this pause is only momentary.

—Bradley Bailey