(Daruma, samurai and courtesan)

Painters of the Torii school are known for their representations of life within the ‘floating world’ (ukiyo) pleasure quarters of 18th-century Edo (now Tokyo), in particular the lives of courtesans and kabuki actors.

This painting references an established Japanese literary debate evaluating the qualities of heterosexual versus male–male love (relations between women are not discussed in these historical texts). Here, a female courtesan makes the case that the male–female combination is the most harmonious, while the young male actor argues that love between men is purer and more honourable. Seated in the centre, dressed in red robes, is Daruma (Bodhidharma). An Indian or Central Asian monk who is considered the founder of Zen Buddhism, Daruma exposes the comparison as a farce, exclaiming, ‘Alas, the possessiveness of women and boys!’ He argues that neither form of love is superior to the other, because in Buddhist philosophy it is non-duality that reveals wisdom.