BackNo. 37
JANUARY, 1935
Responsible Digester: CHISABUROH YAMADA, Ph. D.
On the Hokkedo Kompon Mandala in the Boston Museum By Prof. Yukio Yashiro.
On the Bronze Statue of Bhesajaguru in the Ryukakuji Temple By Hozuma Katori.
Explanation of the Plates.
On the Hokkedo Kompon Mandala in the Boston Museum.
By Prof. YUKIO YASHIRO.
1.
The Hokkedo Kompon Mandala in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the most important monuments for the study of T'ang painting, especially as only a few example of T'ang landscape art have come down to us. The controversy about its origin--Chinese T'ang painting or Japanese Tempyo picture,--does not impair its importance, since Japanese artists of the Tempyo period faithfully imitated the style of T'ang.
The numerous pictures found by Pelliot, Sir Aurel Stein and others at Tunhuang and several other sites in Eastern Turkestan are valuable documents, enabling us to reconstruct the main features of T'ang painting. But they are mainly provincial products, only roughly reflecting the style and tradition of the capital.
The picture, painted in colors on silk and now mounted as a panel measuring 107.4 cm by 144.3 cm, represents the Buddha Sakyamuni seated in the center of the assembly of celestial and human beings on the Vulture Peak, where the full truth of the Lotus (Hokke) was revealed to him.
As the painting obviously lacks unity of style and technique, owing to extensive restoration by a Japanese in the late Heian period, it has for a long time been the object of discussion. It has been regarded as Chinese by some, and as Japanese by others. At present it is registered in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as a Chinese painting of the T'ang period; but the question of its origin has not been satisfactorily answered.
The first and most reliable clue for historicaly investigation is given by an inscription written on a piece of silk and affixed to the back of the picture, which runs as follows:1)
1) The original text is reproduced on Pl.X.
"The Chief Mandara (Kompon Mandala) of the Hokke-do. The Mandara is a representation of the sacred mountain, and is a real product of India. And whereas the parts below the seat of Sakyamuni had all been destroyed, owing, perhaps, to natural decay, or to mutilation by people (for relics), and the picture having passed through unknown ages in that state, now therefore, in March, the fourth year of Kyuan (1148), we have caused Chinkai,1) Iho-Daihoshi, a monk of this temple, to repair it. This because of his skill in painting which he has inherited from his ancestors. We inscribe these particulars in order that posterity may not be misled.
Kanshin, Betto-Hommu (Director of Temple Affairs), Gon-Daisojo (Junior Archbishop.
(Quoted from the English translation in the text of the Portofolio of Chinese Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.)
Now investigation should be made, whether the inscriotion is a genuine specimen of Kanshin's writing, or a copy, or merely a forgery. To this end it is important to find out whether the contents of the inscription coincide with historical facts. As Kanshin was appointed Betto of the Todaiji Monastery in the 3rd year of Kyuan, he is correctly described in the inscription written one year later as "Betto-Homu, Gon-Daisozu".
As for the handwritting of the inscription the writer is of the opinion that it is not that of Kanshin himself, because its style is different from what the writer knows to be his calligraphy. A few extant documents2) written by him just a few years before the date of our inscription show a fluent virtuosity which cannot be observed in the Boston specimen, though its style has something in common with one of the above-mentioned documents. Moreover, the obvious wavering in the handwriting can only be explained by pronouncing it a copy. We may therefore come to the conclusion that the inscription was originally written by Kanshin himself and that the present one is a faithful copy which the writer dates at the end of the Kamakura period. In that case, we may accept the facts mentioned in it, which are valuable regarding the history of our picture, and on account of the reference to the priest painter Chingai, who, though highly reputed in Japanese art history, is a rather obscure personality owing to the lack of the documents concerning him.
The Hokkedo, to which--according to the inscription--our picture belonged, has generally been identified with Hokkedo of the Todaiji Monastery in Nara, though no documentary evidence has been given. Since Kanshin, the author of the inscription, was the Betto of the Todaiji Monastery, no further proof seemed necessary for the identification of the Hokkedo mentioned in the inscription, and the Hokkedo of the Todaiji.
However, the problem is not as simple as that, since that name of the Hokkedo Kompon Mandala is not mentioned in any of the old documents in the Todaiji Monastery, as far as we konw, and also since Kanshin held the similar position of Betto-Homu in the Toji Monastery besides other positions in several other monasteries. Moreover, it is doubtful whether the present Hokkedo of the Todaiji was, in the time of Kamshin, already designated by that name. Originally the temple had been called Kenjakuin, Kenjakudo, Konshoji or Kankomyoji, but not Hokkedo. There is no documentary evidence to prove that the building was called by its present name before the Kamakura period.
1) The proper pronounciation of the name Chinkai is "Chingai".
2) Names of the documents and the scrolls, in which we find Kanshin's original handwriting, are mentioned in p. 4 of the Japanese edition.
On the other hand, the painter Chingai, whom Kanshin calls "Jiso", i.e., monk of this temple, lived in the Zennain in the Todaiji Monastery.1) And it may be assumed that Kanshin could call the painter "monk of this temple" only in documents signed by him in his capacity of Betto of that monastery. After all, there is no positive documentary evidence again the identification of the Hokkedo in the inscription as the Hokkedo of the Todaiji Monastery. And there is a great probability for it. We may, therefore, adopt the theory of this identity, as there is nothing to prove it a false supposition.
2.
The statement in the inscription that the picture is " a real product of India", has little historical value, as in those days old Buddhist painting were very often attributed to India. The question of its origin can only be cleard up by critical study of the various styles and elements observable in this picture. The differentiation of its original parts from the restored parts is rather difficult, since the restoration was skillfully executed in harmony with its original style. What can be obviously recognized as restoration are the rather fresh looking painting in body colours of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and followers with their tabernacles and pedestals, of the whirling clouds represented above them, and of buildings. In the landscape we can also observe traces of restoration, but we can not with certainty distinguish which part is original and which part was restored in what period. It is too adventurous to attribute Japanese elements of this picture simply to the restoration and to declare the original a T'ang work. Some of Japanese elements found in this picture might not derive from the restoration but might be proper to the original, and the picture might originate not from T'ang China but from later Japan. This is not impossible since the style of T'ang Buddhist painting survived till much later, especially in Japan. The problem would be easily resolved if we had a genuine specimen of real T'ang landscape to compare with the landscape of our picture. The flourish of T'ang landscape painting is described in various Chinese books, but we have only a few extant examples, which are not much trustworthy. Landscapes represented on some of the Buddhist wall paintings found in Tunhuang and other sites in Eastern Turkestan furnish a certain criterion for reference. They are however for the most part provincial products and are, being principally wall paintings, different in material from our picture painted on silk. But they are nevertheless important as showing that the Boston picture belongs to the same pedigree as them and is therefore a picture of the T'ang style.
More valuable and better documents to reconstruct the features of T'ang painting are pictures preserved in Japan from the Hakuho and the Tempyo periods some of which, though it is impossible to distinguish them with certainty, seem to be real Chinese products of the T'ang dynasty. Most of the articles preserved in Japan from the Nara period were formerly attributed to China or to Chainese artists who worked in Japan. But our recent research works have taught us that the technique of Japanese artist of the Tenpyo period was highly developed, even to the level almost of T'ang artists, and many of the articles should be attribued to Japanese who faithfully imitated T'ang art. They are, in any case wheter Chinese or Japanese, valuable documents, from which we can most safely infer the main features of T'ang art.
1) Takurei Hirano, Chingai-Iko, The Kokka No. 170-176.
The trees of the Boston picture, especially the one behind the left Attendant Bodhisattva, resemble the trees in the famous screen-paintings in the Shosoin, each of which represents a beauty under a tree1) and the trees painted on the doors of the shrine of Kichijoten (Sri)2) in the Art Academy, Tokyo, wnich originally belonged to the Joruriji Temple in Nara and which seem to have been painted in the Heian period after the tradition of Tempyo picutures. The peculiar manner of representing leaves like a decorative pattern seen in the kompon Mandala can be found in some landcaped painted on linen in the Shosoin3) and in Baron Masuda's Collection. The broad landscape with mountains of piled up rocks in this picture has its affinities not only in the wall paintings found in Tunhuang but also in the small picture painted on tne plectrum of a biwa preserved in the Shosoin 4).
The figures of celestial and human being in the Kompon Mandala had been badly damaged and were much resrored by Chingai. His restoration work reached so far that the figures are now represented with sentimentality and sweetness characteristic of Fujiwara Buddhist painting. However, the scheme of the representation of the Nara period and closely follows the T'ang formula. Halos of Buddhist images represented as concentric circles as in the case of our picture cannot be found except in the works which originat from the Tempyo period. Many affinities of the small Bodhisattvas of the picture can be found in some other works of the Mara period. And the whole scheme reminds us of Buddhist images incised on the large lotus leaves of the pedestal of the Daibutsu in the Todaiji Monastery.
Indian and Turkestan elements which are visibe in Japanese pictures of the Nara period, showing how much their prototype, Chinese T'ang picture was influenced by Indian and Turkestan art, are also observable, notwithstanding the later restoration, in the Boston picture.
Thus the Kompon Mandala resembles on the whole the picture of the Hakubo and the Tempyo period in composition and in style, while it reveals in some parts the style and the technique of the Fujiwara period. This coexistence of two different styles of two period coincides with the facts mentioned in the inscription. The conjecture that the picture may have been painted in the Fujiwara period after the old Tempyo style, seems to be unfounded, since all pictures executed in the Fujiwara period in imitation of Tempyo work clearly betray their origin by their technique, while in this mandala case two different styles and techniques coexist in one picture, contradicting each other. For instance, the Buddhist figures which are painted entirely in the Tempyo style with slight shading are traced with graceful and fluent white lines which indicate the Fujiwara period.
1) Toei-shuko, Vol. 1, Pl. 120.
2) Illustrated Catalogue of the treasures of the Art Academy, Tokyo, Pl. 2-4.
3) Toei-Shuko, Vol. 3, Pl. 129.
4) Ibid. Vol. 5, Pl. 293.
The resemblance of the Kompon Mandala to the picture of the Nara period cannot alone prove it to be Japanese, since, as mentioned above, most of the pictures preserved from the Nara period in Japan cannot be decisively distinguished as Chinese or Japanese. The only possible point of discrimination is to whether the picture contains any Japanese element.
Now the Boston picture has, also in its original unrestored parts, something which gives an entirely Japanese feelinig and which gives a hint of the Yamato-e style that was later to develop. Besides, the pictures mentioned above as resembling this mandala, especially the best, are for the most part those, the Japanese origins of which are very probable. The cotributor belives therefore, bearing in mind as important that it was preserved in Japan, that the Hokkedo Kompon Mandala should be regarded as a Japanese work of the Tempyo period. There is no special reason why it should be attributed to China, since the production of such a painting was possiboe in the country where it was discovered. The weitter is of the opinion that our picture is a most valuable document for reconstructing the features of Chinese T'ang landscape and, at the same time, a profound and precious relic of Tempyo painting, showing how Japanese artists of the Tempyo period adopted the highly developed tradition of T'ang painting and having mastered it gave it a quality of their own.
It may be here mentioned that Dr. Gemmyo Ono names in his studies on the picture of the Vulture Peak1) three old documents in which the existence of the picture of the Vulture Peak is recorded. Among them, the fourth volume of the Todaiji Yoroku records that "two pieces of pictures of the Vulture Peak" belong to the Kami-no-Nyohoin Temple in the Todaiji Monastery2). It is just possible that one of them is the Kompon Mandala in the Boston Museum.
3.
As already stated, the Boston picture seems to have been restored many times. Among the traces of repeated restorations, the restoration of the religiously most important, namely the Buddhist images, their tabernacles and pedestales, the building, and the clouds repainted in body colours predominates. On the ground of the critical study of style it may be regarded as of the Fujiwara period and seems to originate, as the inscription says, from the hand of Chingai. The restoration was executed appearently with an effort to harmonize it with the original style. The small Bodhisattvas, for instance, have distinctive Indian features. However, in spite of this effort, the delicate and elegant Fujiwara style is still obvious in the treatment, especially of the main Buddhist images. Sakyamuni in the Boston picture has not such a vigorous grandiosity as the Sakyamuni of the wall-painting in Kondo of the Horyuji Monastery, though both are painted to the same scheme. The former is graceful and even sentimental. Both Attendant Bodhisattvas are painted decoratively with nervous delicacy and their charming faces are amiable reminiscences of the graceful Fujiwara period. They resemble the Bodhisattvas in the famous picture representing the death of Buddha Sakyamuni in the Koya Monastery, which was painted sixty-one years before the date of the inscription. The image represented in a circular halo on the right hand seems to have been addeed by Chingai, in order to give the old picture an appearance of a mandala.
1) Gemmyo Ono, Buddhist Art and Its History, pp. 853 etc.
2) Zoku-zoku Gunsho-ruiju, Part 2, Todaiji Yoroku, p. 72.
The landscape background of our picuture does not show so many traces restoration executed in the late Fujiwara style. Yet the upper part of a maple-tree to the upper right of the principal image, for instance, is painted in the style and the technique of Yamoto-e of the late Fujiwara period and the early Kamakura period.
All these facts indicate that the main restoration was executed in the end of the Fujiwara period, and this agrees with the inscription, which records, Chingai as the restorer. Chingai was the son of the famous painter Fujiwara-Motomitsu and was not only famous for his talent in science and literature but also reputed "the greatest painter in the world ". Thanks to the studies of Takurei Hirako and Dr. Gemyo Ono, a great deal is now known about him. But no trustworthy original work by him seems to be extant, except this Hokkedo Kompon Mandala. Though he worked in this picture only as a restorer, whose talent was naturally circumscribed, the Boston picrure is the sole monument, from which we can infer the greatness of his art.
On the Bronze Statue of Bhesajaguru in the Ryukakuji Temple.
By HOZUMA KATORI.
Of the present bronze statue which originates from the Nara period only the head and the neck are original, while the other parts are restorations of the later period.
The head itself must have met with disaster from fire more than once, probably twice, and this is the causes of its coarse surface, some minute cracks, and damages to both ears.
The restored parts, especially the drapery, are so ingeniously executed in the pure Nara style, that one is apt to think the restoration was done merely in putting the original fragments together. However, the body and the limbs are entirely new moulded, probably in the Tokugawa period. That the drapery has no fold at the shoulder and the knees is an evidence showing that the restoration took place in the Tokugawa period. This treatment is characteristic of Tokugawa sculpture. Traces of filling on the surface of the restored parts seem also to show its origin from the Tokugawa period, since such a slovenly work was usual in that period.
According to a lately found MS. which narrates the history of the Ryukakuji Temple, the temple was destroyed by fire three times. And the present building was erected, tradition says, in the Genroku era (1688-1703 A.D.). The restoration of the present statue seems to have taken place at that time, when the temple was rebuilt.
The statue measures 122 cm. height.
Digestor's note: Professor Katori, the contributor, has the reputation of being the leading artist of present day Japan in bronze work, and is a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.
In this essay he dicusses details of the restoration from a purely technical standpoint. His argument cannot suitably be reproduced here, but the reader may be referred to Fig. 3, showing the inside of the junction between the neck and the body, photographed through the hollow of the body and to Fig. 4 showing the inside of the lower section of the statue.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
Pl. I & XIII. Two fragments of the painted panelling in the Pagoda of the Daigoji Monastery, Kyoto.
In the Art Academy, Tokyo.
Painted on wood in colour.
Size of each fragment: H. 80 cm., W. 20.8 cm. and 21.5 cm. respectively, T. 1.05 cm.
The building of the five-storied pagoda of the Daigoji Monastery in Kyoto was begun in 936 A.D. and it was consecreted in 952 A.D.. The interior of its ground floor is decorated with paintings on panelling which represent the principal mandalas, the Taizokai1) and the Kongokai2) and eight ancestors of Shingon Buddhism.
Many pieces of the painted panelling are missing from their positions. Most of them are lost, while some, besides the present two pieces in the Art Academy, are now preserved in the treasure house of the monastery and some other places. The remainder of the painting in the pagoda os restored to a considerable extent.
The picture is a precious monument of the transitional style between the Konin and the Fujiwara period, yet showing some reminiscences of the Chinese influence which was paramount in the Nara period.
Since the vigorous colouring is one of the most admirable points of the picture, we are happy to be able to reproduce a part of the fragment in colour here.
Of the present four deities, the upper one of the left fragment seems to represent Veruna, while the other upper one was probably meant to represent the wife of Narayana. Both deities are to be situated in the lower, i.e., west boundary section of the Garbhakusa dhatu Mandala. Since the deities of the four boundary sections of this Mandala are represented on the upper part of eight walls of all four sides, we may assume that the present two pieces derive from the west wall of the pagoda.
Pl. VI. Portait of Priest Gyokuin Eiyo.
In the Meigetsuin Temple, Kanagawa-ken.
Painted on paper in colour. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 101.5cm., W. 144.3cm.
Many portraits of priests of the Zen sect were produced in Japan from the end of Kamakura period to the end of the Ashikaga period. The present portrait is one of them. Though it is ordinarily regarded as the portrait of Gykuin Eiyo, there is no possible proof for the assumption. The inscription weitten in the upper part of the picture which is signed by Gyokuin Eiyo and in which we can find two characters Soyu, the name given to him by the Emperor, is now defaced to a large extent and supplies no further evidence.
Gyokuin was a priest of the Kenchoji Monastery in Kamakura and spent his later life in the Meigetsuin Temple near the monastery. In the end of the 15th century he became famous for his virtue and his talent in literature. He is traceable as a priest of the Kenchoji Monastery till 1523 A.D., when he was 92 years old. He wrote poems and prose (San) on many pictures of famous artists of his day, Sesshu, Shokei etc.
1) Garbhakusa dhatu mandala.
2) Vajradhatu mandala.
Except for its rich colouring, our portrait painted in the style that was usual in the portrait painting of that time under the influence of Sung painting. In contrast to the light colouring of other portraits of those days, the present picture is richly and strongly coloured, and the decoration of the chair and the footstool reveal much of Chinese taste. These characteristics may have been tendencies of the late Ashikaga period, when the picture was executed.
The inscription on the painting is dated, but, of the characters which indicate the number of the year, only one is legible, that is Tatsu, the character of dragon. Of the years when Gyokuin was old, the following are years of dragon, 1496. 1508, and 1520 A.D. We may therefore assume that the picture was executed in one of these three years.
Pl. VII. Flower Feast. Six-fold Screen by Kano-Naganobu (Japanese, 1577-1654).
In the collection of Mr. Kunizo Hara, Tokyo.
Painted on paper on colour.
Size: H. 149.1 cm., W. 355.2 cm.
In a beautiful and magnificent symphony of bright colours, gold, white crimson, blue, etc., a masterly hand delineates in China-ink gay and charming young men and women dancing and playing, full blossomed trees, a pretty house and distant mountains.
This sumptuous screen is stamped with a round seal which seems to carry two characters Naganobu. Kano-Naganobu was the fourth son of Kano-Shoei and lived from 1577 till 1654 A.D. There is no extant work which may be ascribed with surety to him, except the present screen, and for this exception there is no further evidence than the above mentioned seal.
The beautiful flowers and trees are represented after the style and the technique which were developed in the Momoyama period and which have bequeathed us many beautiful master-pieces. But there is no work which may be taken as a predecessor of the refined representation of graceful, yet fascinating and charming persons of this picture. In this respect the work is a unique master piece, unrivalled by any other contemporary work.
The present screen formed originally a pair combined with another six-fold screen, two middle leaves of which were burnt in the disaster of September, 1923, caused by the great earthquake. The other extant four leaves are now mounted as a four-fold screen that is reproduced on Pl. 14.
For further studies on this screen and on the biography of Naganobu, we may recommend the biographical studies on him by Somei Yuki, which appeared in the Sosan, 1934, May.
Pl. VIII. Image of Vimalakirti. By Ogata-Korin (Japanese, 1655-1716).
In the Collection of Mr. Junzo Yasusaka, Tokyo.
Painted on paper in ink. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 38,1 cm., W. 54.4 cm.
Korin's characteristic, unique artistic world is certainly created by his ingenious use of colours. However, he was at home as well in Cnina-ink painting. In ink painting he used both methods of brush work, harsh and smooth. In the present picture he applied the former which is very effective for representing the gravity and the dignity of Vimalakirti.
The picture seems to have been painted with a thick brush which was appearently wielded spiritedly in very fast tempo.