BackNo.71
NOVEMBER 1937
This summary is compiled by Mr. TAKASHI KATSUKI.
A STONE STATUE OF ARYACALANATHA OF THE T'ANG PERIOD
BY PROF. YUKIO YASHIRO
The present paper deals with the Chinese stone sculpture of Aryacalanatha owned by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Aryacalanatha, as a matter of fact, has been very popular in Japan since the tantric sect of Buddhism was imported into this country from China. But, it is curious to know that almost no statue of Aryacalanatha has been discovered in China. The present example, however, which is the only important one known to exist, was dug up in a hamlet called Yang-kia three miles north of Hsi-an Fu, China, and brought by the late Dr. Berthold Laufer, well-known Sinologist, for the same museum in 1910.
This statue is 46 cm. high and carved in high relief on black marble (Pl. IV). It is historically very precious not only as the oldest but also as the most unique piece of the kind ever found in China. In this respect the writer introduces it here after careful examination of the subject from the iconographical as well as from the artistic view point. Due to the difficulties of presenting a detailed discussion of the paper we here merely give the conclusion.
The Field Museum sets the date of the present sculpture in the fifth century which falls in with the last part of the North Wei Dynasty (386-534). This dating is impossible, considering the fact that tantric Buddhism, in which the Aryacalanatha had a definite place, was introduced into China much later. The very first introduction of the tantric doctrine into China, which established the iconography of the Aryacalanatha and which gave motive to statue-carving, is ditucult to determine but the writer after studying various sutras concerned with it and the dates of their translations into Chinese concludes that the seventh century would be about the time when the artistic attempts to visualize the Aryacalanatha were first made possible. Then the writer proceeds to elaborate comparative studies of the Chicago Aryacalanatha with the examples of the same deity in Japan, which were surely brought to this country from China by Japanese priests who went to the continent during the T'ang Dynasty and who were initiated into the T'amg doctrine then prevalent there as well as the oldest examples of Japanese make which were directly modelled upon Chinese prototypes of the time. First of all, there were the figures of Aryacalanatha found on the Chinese bronze bells of the T'ang Period preserved in old Japanese temples of the tantric sect and elsewhere; then there were figures of the same painted in the oldest versions of the Taizokai Mandara or in iconographical scrolls related to them; thirdly, there were the oldest existent statues of the same in the Toji Temple in Kyoto and elsewhere, which are certainly close imitations of the T'ang originals. All these comparisons point to the fact that the Chicago Aryacalanatha belonged to the same group, which, itself, belonged to the T'ang Period judging from its doctrinal aspects. In detail, however, there are some iconographical divergences in the Chicago statue which seem to place it somewhat earlier.
After studying the Chicago statue from its iconographical aspects which place it not much earlier than T'ang, probably in the early T'ang Period, the writer then turns to its stylistic analysis which also points to a similar conclusion.
Of dated standard works of the early T'ang Period there are famous sculptures in stone from Pao-ch'ing Ssu in Hsi-an Fu now mostly in Marquis Hosokawa's collection. Moreover as these sculptures are from a place near that in which the Chicago statue was discovered, they make good materials for comparison being free from the difficulties involved in local differences natural to such a wide country as China. Now in style and in technique these Pao-ch'ing Ssu sculptures show so many similarities both stylistic and technical with the Chicago statue that it might be attributed to the same period, that is to say, the early T'ang.
THE YOSHINO MANDARA OF REIUNJI TEMPLE
BY MASUTO TOYOOKA
The present Mandara which is registered as a National Treasure is a well-known picture but it has long gone incorrectly under the name of the Yoshino Mandara. In reality, however, the painting represents Buddhist deities enshrined in Hiyoshi Shrine at the foot of Mt. Hiei.
Shown in the present picture is a landscape as seen from the air, with twenty-one Buddhist figures all together in various sizes and with religious structures, etc., and it is evidently a "Suijaku" painting.
Examples of the so-called Yoshino Mandara are extremely few and one which is now owned by Nyoirinji Temple of Mt. Yoshino is, so far as we know, the only other example in which Zaogongen is depicted as the main subject representing the deity of Zaodo of Mt. Yoshino. In the present Yoshino Mandara, however, there is no inseparable relationship with shrines on Mt. Yoshino, while the Mandara paintings which are connected with Mt. Yoshino usually bear the figure of Zaogongen. The twenty-one Buddhist figures in the present Mandara seem related to the deities of Mt. Yoshino neither in number nor in the names of deities.
The writer's explanation of this riddle is that the misnomer, Yoshino Mandara, should not be applied to the present work; instead the painting should correctly be called the Hiyoshi-sanno Mandara judging from the following points: 1-not only the number of twenty-one Buddhist figures corresponds to that of Hiyoshi Shrine but, iconographically speaking, they coincide with each other. The arrangement of figures in the picture is also made according to that of shrines; 2-the monkey which is believed to be the messenger of God of Hiyoshi Shrine appears as the only animal in the present picture; 3-a chose resemblance of the present picture to "The Portraits of Gods of Hiyoshi-sanno Shrine" which is now in the possession of Kudaraji Temple, Shiga Prefecture (Cut on p.21), regarding the composition.
From the Fujiwara Period Hiyoshi Shrine became popular among nobles as well as common people and in the Kamakura Period the number of shrines built on the spacious precinct totaled twenty-one. In examining the names of the shrines and deities enshrined, in reference to the old documents, the present writer was able to identify them with those in the present Mandara almost without difficulty, and the same is also true of the location of the shrines. The cut at the top of page twenty-three indicates the actual arrangement of the shrines in the precinct, and the other at the bottom of the same page-the diagram of the present Mandara-shows the positions of the shrine and the names of the deities enshrined as presumed by the present writer. As for the presence of monkeys in this picture it is also verified in the old records that they are the messengers of the deities of Hiyoshi Shrines.
Unfortunately, the color of this time-honored picture has turned murky and even a bit exfoliated but the original beauty is still observed in the remaining green of the mountains, white of the cherry blossoms, vermillion of the maple-leaves, gold of the religious figures and others. Due to the limited size of the figures they are all alike and lack variety but the composition, especially the skilful drawing of the landscape with the harmonizing Buddhistic figures draws our attention from among other examples of this kind. These features make it outstanding among the ordinary "Suijaku" paintings.
Judging from the technical points the date of the present picture can be set around the end of the Kamakura Period but for detailed information the development of the "Honji Butsu" of the deities of the twenty-one shrines must be studied and the comparison of the styles of the pictures of this kind also must be considered.
STUDIES ON THE BIOGRAPHY OF KAISEKI NORO (PART I)
BY SENZO MORI
Of the life of Kaiseki Noro, an artist who belonged to the School of Literary Men's Painting, we are informed sketchily in various old documents, but as far as we know his complete biography has so far never been published. With reference to those sources, particularly, the "Shihekisai Gawa" --Talks on Art by Shihekisai, i.e., Kaiseki-- the present writer desires to present his biography herewith for the first time.
Although Kaiseki's name as an artist was popular even before and after his death, he was, compared to contemporary artists, neglected for a while following the Meiji Era.
Kaiseki was his brush name and several other names were also used in the course of time. Being born the fifth child in the Noro family Kaiseki as the third son and his younger brother Seisho showed greater ability than their other brothers, the former as an artist and the latter as an archer. Although his family had originally belonged to the warrior class it had been reduced to the status of commoner by the time of Kaiseki's birth in Wakayama province on the twentieth of January in the fourth year of Enkyo (1747).
Kaiseki was educated first by Rangu (Choken) Ito the distinguished scholar of the day but the inclination of Kaiseki toward art was partly due to the influence of his preceptor who himself also painted. In the tenth year of Horeki (1760) Kaiseki went to Kyoto and started his professional training as an artist under certain masters among whom was the famous painter Taigado who probably taught Kaiseki about three years, according to the old record.
He married in the ninth year of An-ei (1780) at the age of thirty-three, this being his second marriage; of his first marriage we know next to nothing. His family life was visited with mistortune in the loss of his only son after which he adopted a son.
Kaiseki at the age of forty-two, climbed Mt. Odaihara which is one of the highest mountains in the Yamato district and his. sketches with his autographic notes done on this occasion are now preserved mounted as a scroll in the Imperial Library, Tokyo. He later entered the service of his provincial lord in the fifth year of Kensei (1793) when he was forty-six and thereby became connected with the mining and agricultural industries. The former afforded him abundant opportunities for travel in the mountains and his keen interest in nature yielded many paintings (Pl. III). He seems to have been not only an able artist but also he was a man with business ability. He went to Edo, the present Tokyo, twice, in the eleventh year of Kansei (1799) and the first year of Kyowa (1801), but no detailed information of the trips is known.
ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS BY TESSAI TOMIOKA. REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS. (PART II)
WITH COMMENTS BY TARO ODAKANE
(See Part I in the previous number of the English Summary)
EXPLANATTON OF THE PLATES
Pl. I (Color) & II Yoshino Mandala.
Color on silk. Mounted as kakemono.
Height: 115.2 cm; width: 54.7 cm.
Reiunji Temple, Tokyo.
(See the article by Masuto Toyooka)
PI. III Nachi Mountains, by Kaiseki Noro (Japanese, 1747-1828).
Slight color on silk. Mounted as kakemono.
Height: 135.5 cm.; width: 70.3 cm.
Collection of Mr. Yasoo Sakata, Tokyo.
(See the article by Serzo Mori)
PI. IV Aryacalanatha.
Stone.
Height: 46 cm.; diameter of bottom: 34 cm.
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
(See the article by Prof. Yukio Yashiro)
PI. V-VII Bronze Bell with Handle in the Form of Five-Pronged-Vajara.
Height: 24.3 cm.; diameter: 6.4 cm.
Imperial Household Museum of Tokyo.
(See the article by Prof. Yukio Yashiro)