The Daruma Overcoat (Haori Daruma), from "Three Pictures of Harmony (Waki sanpukutsui)" c. 1725 - 1730

Okumura Masanobu created this woodblock print, The Daruma Overcoat, sometime in the early 18th century. The composition is striking; the subtle, muted colors and the vertical format draw your eye upward, following the lines of the figures. We see three women, their forms defined by a delicate interplay of line and shape. The genius of Masanobu lies in his ability to create a visual pun. The overcoat, draped over one of the figures, is not merely clothing but also a visual reference to Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. This interplay between the real and the symbolic invites us to decode the image. Is the artist making a statement about identity, representation, or perhaps the blending of cultural and religious signs? Consider the cultural codes at play here. Masanobu invites us to question fixed meanings and to see the world as a space of fluid interpretation. The very structure of the print encourages a constant re-evaluation of what we see and what it might signify.