Meditating Skeleton

This arresting painting of a skeleton seated in a posture of meditation is a powerful reminder of the imminence of death but might also suggest the potential for transcending the physical body through Buddhist practice. This work may relate to an earlier Japanese Buddhist artistic subject, the “Nine stages of a decaying corpse” (Kusōzu 九相図). In nine images this series shows the physical decay of a human body and is intended to encourage reflection on impermanence. The eighth image is of a complete skeleton, and the ninth shows that skeleton disjointed and broken apart. The meditating skeleton subject may be a creative addition to that familiar series, which was widely known by the Edo period (1615–1868) through woodblock prints as well as paintings presented to the public at Buddhist temples. An earlier version of the meditating skeleton subject exists, painted in 1787 by the prominent painter Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙 (1733–1795) and in the collection of Daijōji Temple in Hyōgo, Japan.

Although little is currently known about the painter Kōen Tōdō, the inscription at the top is by Momoi Nichii 桃井日威 (1843–1916), a leading priest of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism.