The ebusshi Ryoshu happily watched his house burn (絵仏師良秀家の焼くるを見て悦ぶ事)

Once upon a time, there was an ebusshi called Ryoshu. Because there was fire coming from the house next door, and the wind blew over and surrounded his house, he ran away to the main road. Paintings of Buddhas which he was commissioned to paint was still inside. And also, his unclothed wife and children were still inside. He satisfiedly escaped outside without thinking about them, and ended up standing in the opposite side. As he looked, the fire had already moved to his own house, and he watched from the opposite side until smoke and fire were rising. As people thought this was surprising and came to ask if he was alright, he was still calm. While people said, “why!”, he stood on the opposite side, watched his house burn, nodded his head in deep understanding, and smiled from time to time. “Great! What a revelation this is! This shall be the painting I haven’t been able to do well for many years!”, he said, and the people who had come to ask him said, “how could he just stand like this! How astonishing! Is he possessed by something?” He mockingly laughed and said, “what thing should possess me? For many years, I have been painting the fire of Fudo Myoo badly. Now that I see it, I have known that it should burn exactly like this. This is the very revelation. If I were to devote myself into this profession and make a living in the world, even if I could only paint Buddha well, I could end up having hundreds and thousands of houses. It is exactly because the likes of you don’t have any noteworthy skill that you even regret over things.”

It was perhaps from this time on that people called it “Ryoshu’s flickering Fudo” and all praise it highly.