Dog Art Today

Zen Dog Art

Written by

Moira McLaughlin

in

Praying_chihuahua_zen_dog_2

 

Conan, a devout Chihuahua who lives with his master, Zen Buddhist priest, Joei Yoshikuni, has become not only a tourist attraction at his temple in southern Japan, but an international sensation on the Internet too.  He showed up in my inbox today courtesy of my Dad who can’t help but compare Conan to his super talented Minnie.  Minnie might know more tricks, but I think Conan has a better press agent.

This praying pup inspired me to feature several non-western pieces of dog art I’ve been collecting over the past year.  Enjoy!

Lee_am_mother_dog

Mother Dog and Puppies by Lee Am, 1507-1566

 

Kim_Duryang-Scratching_dog

Scratching Dog by Kim Du-Ryang, 1743

 

 

Kim_duryangsapsalgae

Sapsalgae by Kim Du-Ryang, 1743

 

 

Maruyama_okyo_puppies

Puppies by Maruyama Okyo, Edo Period.  Courtesy of the Miho Museum in Japan

 

 

Korean_dog_book

Title and painter unknown via this lovely Korean blog.  (If anyone can translate, let me know.)

 

 

Korean_gray_dog

Another mystery image from the same blog

 

 

Korean_dog_art_puppy

Detail of 16th century Korean scroll attributed to Yi Am, 1499-1566.   Via Cascada

 

 

Zen_dog_adler

 

Also, may I recommend, Judith Adler’s look at our pets as spiritual creatures in the Buddhist tradition in her book Zen Dog, with photos by Toni Tucker.

 

Zen_dachshund
My dox-ZEN print is now available at my Etsy shop

 


Oh…and one more shot of Conan…

Praying_zen_dog

Coming soon…Minnie’s first movie featuring all her tricks and her fabulous trainer!  Until then, visit her website here. 

 

Comments

7 responses to “Zen Dog Art”

  1. merryhappy Avatar
    merryhappy

    wow~surprise!! 😀
    It’s Korea Dog Art~

    Reply
  2. rebecca Avatar
    rebecca

    Great grouping. We collect old Japanese wood block prints and study eastern art a little bit. It can be quite hard to find terrific examples of great animal art from the 16th & 17th century. Too often when you do find them in Japanese prints they seem stiff or contrived. These are wonderful, thanks for sharing. I’ll be sure to click through to the Korean blog.

    Reply
  3. WendyB Avatar
    WendyB

    Love, love, love the Asian dog art. Poor Conan is like, “I’ve been asking and asking for a cookie. WHERE’S MY COOKIE?!”

    Reply
  4. Moira Avatar
    Moira

    I know, poor little guy! Talk about sublimation of animal desires!!!

    Reply
  5. Melissa Avatar
    Melissa

    Hi Moira!
    I love this post! What a great collection you put together!
    🙂 Melissa

    Reply
  6. JB Avatar
    JB

    Interesting post. Thanks for including the 16th century Korean puppy from my blog ‘cascada’ ( http://cascada-jb.blogspot.com/2007/11/dog-art-i-know.html ). I have to confess snagging it from the internet somewhere, but I no longer remember where.

    Reply
  7. jj Avatar
    jj

    Hi I just want to tell you that the unknown korean painting with 4 animals drawn on the worn paper is a “Dangsajoo book”.
    This book is about the “Four Pillars” (the year, month, day and hour of one´s birth) which are supposed to influence one´s fortune;fate.
    And the page is showing people’s fate born in dog’s year(korean zodiac)
    and the picture with three eyed dog is a dog that protects people wuth 3 eyes.

    Reply

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