Keywords
Art History
Painting
Ch: Ling Zhaonu. Raised by her aged parents as a devout Buddhist, this semi-legendary daughter of Tang dynasty lay Buddhist *Hō Koji ほう居士 (Ch: Pang jushi) is regarded as a paragon of filial piety because by selling bamboo baskets in a nearby town she kept her family as the bread winner. Often depicted with alms money in one hand and bamboo baskets in the other, it is more usually by the baskets that she is identified; in all cases she is beautiful. Images of Rei Shōjo date from the Muromachi through early Edo periods. There are well-known portraits by Gakuō 岳翁 (act. 1486-1514) and Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙 (1733-95; Kongōji 金剛寺). Rei Shōjo also appears along with her father in a screen by Kano Sanraku 狩野山楽 (1559-1635; Daihō'onji 大報恩寺).