Juroujin　寿老人

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Ch: Shoulaoren. A Chinese Taoist god known as the immortal of the Northern Song and also considered the personification of the southern polar star nankyokusei 南極星. In Japan he became a popular god of longevity and one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune *shichifukujin 七福神. The legendary Juroujin is said to be based on an actual person alive in the late 11c, who stood nearly six shaku 尺 (roughly six feet) in height and possessed an elongated head. Besides the distinctive cranium, he is represented in painting with a white beard, carrying a round fan and staff with a sutra hanging from it. Often he is accompanied by a crane or a white stag said to be 1500 years old. Often he also is shown under another symbol of longevity, the plum tree. Of the many Japanese paintings of Juroujin, those by Sesshuu 雪舟 (1420-1506), Sesson Shuukei 雪村周継 (1504?-90?), Kanou Tan'yuu 狩野探幽 (1602-74) and Maruyama Oukyo 円山応挙 (1733-95) are best known.

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