Happiness and Longevity Unlimited (A Hundred Ebisu)
By Soho Koji
Taisho Period (dated 1917)
Color on silk
49.5 x 129.5cm
Cat. 265982
© The Field Museum
One hundred Ebisu, the god of luck, are having all kinds of fun here. They are engaged in a variety of activities: singing, dancing, drawing, writing something on hands, practicing calligraphy, playing Chinese game of go, eating fish, drinking tea, arm wrestling, playing instruments as a band, tallying receipts on the abacus, having a tug-of-war by neck, and so forth.
One of the Seven Gods of Fortune, Ebisu represents honest dealing and hard labor. He is believed to be the patron of fishermen and tradesmen. As shown in the painting, he is playing with fish and using abacus to do business. Ebisu's name means "the laughing god". Bearded, smiling, happy, wearing a soft cloth cap, sitting on crossed leg with a fat sea bream, Ebisu is easily recognizable. His shrine, together with Daikokus (God of plenty) shrine, is the most popularly worshipped shrine in Japanese households.
The little known artist Soho Koji ("the Lay monk Soho") displays a great compositional skill by arranging the one hundred similar figures in a lively way. He not only gives a panoramic view of the group but also pays attention to every detail, vividly presenting the figures' different facial expressions, poses, and the activities they are involved in. An Ebitsu is holding a fan with four characters on it which reads "happiness like a sea", and the character on another Ebisu's fan also reads "happiness". They deliberately refer to the title of the painting written on the upper right -- "Happiness and longevity unlimited."
(Commentary by Juan Peng)