BackNo.81
SEPTEMBER 1938
This summary is compiled by Mr. TAKASHI KATSUKI.
GILT BRONZE STATUETTE "SEVEN BUDDHAS"
BY PROF. YUKIO YASHIRO
Among the gilt bronze statuettes of the Six Dynasties and of the T'ang which found their way to Japan there is a kind called edabotoke. The edabotoke is a group of Buddhistic statuettes--generally seven signifying the belief in Kako Shichibutsu--perched on seven branches of a tree. The author discusses the question of the edabotoke taking Mr. Nezu's example (Pl. VI) as the best representation of the kind.
The Kako Shichibutsu (the Seven Buddhas of the Past) is a term applied to the group of Seven Buddhas who successively lived from the earliest days down to the arrival of Sakya. The belief in the Kako Shichibutsu developed later into the polytheistic conception of Buddhism. The existence of the belief in the Kako Shichibiktsu and its manifestation in sculpture are known as early as in the reign of King Asoka and later it flourished both in India and China.
In China, however, the Seven Buddhas were only very rarely treated as the main deities; their representations are generally and most often found on the halo of some other Buddha or on the sides of a niche as more or less decorative carvings. They were also made as the edabotoke, and it is imagined that they were generalhy all very simple works, presumably used in family altars or dedicated to the temple as family offerings. We have reason to imagine that this popular worship of the Seven Buddhas of the Past was linked up closely with the Chinese custom to celebrate the ancestors of seven generations.
Among Chinese examples of the edabotoke which are mostly very simple works (cuts on pp. 3, 5, 6 & 7) the present one owned by Mr. Nezu is distinguished by its exceptionally elaborate workmanship (Pl. VI). It consists of seven figures, each seated on seven lotus blossoms, ramified from the same stem. The arrangement of the figures is irregular and the author makes an attempt at rearrangement.
He also dates the statuette in the Sui Dynasty although he finds technical details which might be attributed to the Early T'ang Period.
LIFE OF SESSHU, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO HIS SOJOURN IN CHINA
BY SHIN-ICHI TANI
ln the present paper, as indicated by the sub-title, the writer discusses the points of the arrival of Sesshu in Ming China, his companions, his movements in China, the duration of his sojourn, the date of his return to Japan, his ensuing residence in Japan and other details which were based on the most reliable historical data.
There are divers theories concerning the life of Sesshu but it is questioned to what extent they are true. The duration of his sojourn in China, on which this paper is focussed, is generally believed to have been three years. However, this erroneous belief must he rectified and the range of Sesshu's travel was much more limited, according to the results of studies by the present writer.
Unfortunately, space limits the introduction of documental evidences on which the present paper is based and conclusions which are to be drawn from them. The following is the itinerary which is supposed to have been followed by Sesshu.
January to February, the second year of Onin (1468)--Sesshu was in Hakata, Japan; February to March--sailed from Hakata and arrivred at Ningpo, China; March to August--traveled around Ningpo region and visited T'ien-t'ung Shan etcetera; August to November--went north by canal and reached Peking; November to February, the first year of Bummei (1469) --stayed in Peking; February --left Peking; February to April --sailed south on the canal; April to May--sojourned around Ningpo; May to June --sailed from Ningpo homeward to Japan; June to August--arrived in Japan.
STUDY ON THE "FIFTEEN MYSTERIES OF ST. MARY" PAINTED IN JAPAN (PART I)
BY TEI NISHIMURA
It is well known that most Christian paintings of the early period of Christianity in Japan were lost when the severe anti-Christian policy was launched by the government at the beginning of modern times. Of the paintings used around the altar in particular only a very few remain today but fortunately the artist, purpose and place of execution can be traced. Among them are the examples called the Fifteen Mysteries of St. Mary which are particularly interesting in points of the origin and the artistic and religious significance. The present writer presents, herewith, general studies on the subject, beginning with early Christianity which was highly active producing many religious paintings and ending with the decline of Christianity in this country.
The Fifteen Mysteries of St. Mary is based on religious documents and the doctrine of the faith as set forth in this work was eagerly observed among Christian groups in Japan and the representation of the faith in painting was encouraged, according to the present writer. The only extant examples of the Fifteen Mysteries of St. Mary which. are known total three works--owned by Mr. Tojiro Azuma of Osaka (Pl. VII), by the Imperial University of Kyoto (Pl. VII) and by the Uragami Catholic Church in Nagasaki. In the present paper, however, only the former two are dealt with in detailed comparison.
These two paintings were discovered in Takatsuki near Kyoto, which was once a center of the Christian movement in the early period. As may be seen, they are quite alike in composition, technique and size and seem to have been painted by the same artist--apparently a Japanese. In both pictures the Three Mysteries--rejoicing, lamentation and glory of St. Mary--are depicted in fifteen sections around the two large pictures which are of the Madonna and Christ and of Ignatius Loyola and Francisco de Xavier, founders of the Jesuit Society and of the same Society of Japan respectively. The fifteen scenes are so planned as to begin with the rejoicing which is represented by those on the margin to the left of the center of the picture and next the lamentation on the top and lastly the glory on the right in order. Thus, the productions of these works are known to be closely related to the Jesuit Society.
But one in the possession of the Imperial University of Kyoto (Pl. VIII) is different from the other of Mr. Azuma in composition. In the former St. Loyola and St. Xavier are accompanied by St. Matthews and St. Lucia, suggesting that the present picture was donated by a couple who received the names of these saints as their Christian names, according to one theory. Although the picture is done on paper with native pigments in European style the technique employed there is quite advanced. The fifteen scenes, Madonna and Christ in particular well represent the Biblical events and they are faithfully copied after occidental examples, says the present writer.
SUPPLEMENTARY COMMENTS ON THE ZUSHO-KORYAKU-KI (Notes on Art and Artists)
BY KISAKU TANAKA
Upon publishing the Zusho-Koryaku-Ki which was reprinted from the printed manuscripts for the first time in the Bijutsu Kenkyu. Nos. LXXVI & LXXVII, the comments were given by the present exponent. The English summary has not and cannot now introduce these printed manuscripts as the summarization would be too involved. He, however, desires to add to them supplementary comments necessitated by the recent discoveries of new materials.
The Zusho-Koryaku-Ki was written by a certain Buddhist Isshiken Ichido of Yatsushiroge of Higo province in Kyushu and it deals with the biographies of forty-three Japanese artists and Chinese theories of art and calligraphy in four volumes. The printed manuscripts which were reprinted in our journals before are now in the possession of the Imperial Library of Tokyo and which were formerly published in the fourteenth year of Genroku. (1701) and were thought to be the only copies remaining today. The present writer, however, recently learned that there exist other copies; one of them having been an edition of a different year.
In this light the present exponent reconsiders the important points in the compilation of the Zusho-Koryaku-Ki.
RYUKAKUJI ENGI (HISTORY OF RYUKAKUJI TEMPLE)
COMMENTS BY KISAKU TANAKA
Ryukakuji stands on the outskirts of Ajiki in Chiba prefecture and was originally founded in the Nara Period. A bronze statue of Bhaisajyaguru of the same period still remains in the temple although only the head of the statue is original and all the rest was recast in the Tokugawa Period.
This statue was introduced by Prof. H. Katori of the Imperial School of Art, Tokyo, in our journial, No. 37; the records concerning the temple are so meager that the documents mentioned by Prof. Katori were almost limited to that of Ryukakuji Engi. Furthermore, the temple has no Ryukakuji Engi which should have been handed down and the one to which Prof. Katori referred was a copy in a private library which later was also missing.
Recently, Mr. Tanaka came across the same copy by chance and upen procuring it, presented it to Ryukakuji. Reprinted in the present number of the Bijutsu Kenkyu is this complete work of the Ryukakuji Engi of the same copy.
Despite the fact that this copy was written in modern times and the contents are rich in the legendary elements as is customary found in documents of this kind, many valuable historical data which are impossible to obtain from any other sources today are involved.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES
Pls. I (Color) & II Peony Garden.
Color on gold paper ground. Mounted as eighteen sliding doors.
Three out of eighteen--height: 184 cm; width: 98.5
Four out of eighteen--height: 184 cm; width 153.5
Daikakuji, Kyoto.
The present examples are particularly well known among screens and sliding doors of the Momoyama Period which are famous for their gorgeous color scheme. The Peony Garden is painted on eighteen sliding doors (cuts on p. 31) encircling a big room of Daikakuji temple in Kyoto. As seen in the reproductions the subject is painted in rich color on a gold paper ground and the composition is quite interesting.
The design and technique employed here are suggestive of the artistic style fully developed in the painting of the Momoyama Period. The date of production, therefore, may be set around the closing era of the same period.
As for the artist it is believed to be Sanraku, according to the tradition of the temple and technically speaking it seems to be true. According to another tradition, the present building was a part of the residence of Lady Tofukumon-in which fact will assure our dating of the present works.
Pl. III Kariba Myojin.
Color on silk. Mounted as kakemono.
Height: 79.1 cm; width: 39.7 cm.
Kongobuji, Mt. Koya, Wakayama.
Pls. IV & IX Nibu Myojin.
Color on sink. Mounted as Kakemono.
Height: 79.1 cm; width: 39.7 cm.
Kongobuji, Mt. Koya, Wakayama.
Both Myojins are said to have assisted Kobo Daishi when he founded temples in Mt. Koya and since then they have been enshrined as the guardian deities of the mountain. Kariba Myojin is represented as a hunter with two dogs while Nibu Myojin as a court lady and two or three other examples of the kind are known to remain. The present ones are the best preserved among all and are considered to have been executed at the end of the Kamakura Period, being the representative pieces of the Shinto pictures of the same period.
The God and Godess are drawn according to the different sexes and their artistic representations are interesting from the stylistic point of view. A Sanscrit letter written in a circle which is seen right above the figure of each painting signifies the Mahavairocana of Kongo-kai and Taizo-kai mandalas. ne prose written beside the circle and the subject of each painting are closely related. A verse on the Kariba Myojin in particular is also found in an old anthology Zoku-kokin-shu which fact is suggestive of the period when this deity was popular among people.
Pl. V Landscape.
Ink on paper. Mounted as kakemono.
Height: 101.3 cm; width: 33.7 cm.
The Imperial School of Art, Tokyo.
This is an example of landscape paintings which were brought over here from Korea in the early days. A poem found on the upper part of the painting was written by a Japanese priest Isou Tokuho (d. 1466) who had been head-priest of three temples--Tofukuji, Tenryuji and Nanzenji--during his life time. The present work was apparently done during his life time and the date, therefore, is not later than the reign of King Seiso of Korea. The technique employed in the landscape showing the wide planes of water and fleeing rain clouds is modern. This fact indicates the style of the painting existed already in Korea at that time, and no further criticism of the picture need here be offered.
Pl. VI Seven Buddhas.
Gilt bronze.
Height including stand: 19.6 cm.
Collection of Mr. Kaichiro Nezu, Tokyo.
(See the article by Prof. Yukio Yashiro)
Pl. VII Fifteen Mysteries of St. Mary.
Color on paper. Framed.
Height: 82.4 cm; width: 65.5 cm.
Collection of Mr. Toichiro Azuma, Osaka.
PI. VIII Fifteen Mysteries of St. Mary.
Color on paper. Mounted as Kakemono.
Height: 75.8 cm; width: 63.6 cm.
The Imperial University of Kyoto.
(See the article by Tei Nishimura)