# Stand-in Fugen

- By: Kitao Masayoshi (Japanese, 1761–1824)
- Date: late 1700s–early 1800s
- Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Painting only: 114.3 x 56.2 cm (45 x 22 1/8 in.); Including mounting: 186.7 x 76.2 cm (73 1/2 x 30 in.)
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Credit line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.277)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.277/1985.277_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Here, a woman dressed as a man replaces Fugen, a bodhisattva—a being among those considered enlightened in Buddhism—who symbolizes learning as a path to awakening and typically rides an elephant. The painting teaches the lesson of impermanence through the petals falling from the lotus flower the woman holds. It also alludes to the legend of Eguchi, a 12th-century courtesan who, following an encounter with a Buddhist monk-poet called Saigyō, revealed herself to be a manifestation of Fugen.