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158-581: The Ippen Shōnin Eden ( 一遍 上人 絵 伝 , "Illustrated Biography of the itinerant monk Ippen") is a group of emakimono or emaki (painted narrative handscrolls) from the Kamakura period of Japanese history (1185–1333). A set of illuminated manuscripts , they describe the life of Ippen (1234–1289), a Buddhist monk who founded the Ji-shū ( 時宗 , "Time sect") branch of Pure Land Buddhism . Amongst

316-703: A sutra is the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra , translated into Chinese by Lokakṣema in 179 CE, with the discovery of a Gandhari language fragment of that sutra announced in 2018. Jeff Wilson writes that over a fifth of the sutras in the Taishō Tripiṭaka reference Amitābha, but three sutras in particular have become seen as canonical in East Asian Buddhism: Amitābha is understood as the Buddha of comprehensive love. Amitābha's pure land

474-599: A compound of amita ("infinite") and āyus ("life"), and so means "he whose life is boundless". In Chinese, 阿彌陀佛 , pronounced "Ēmítuófó", is the Chinese pronunciation for the Sanskrit name of the Amitābha Buddha (Amida Buddha). The "e mi tuo" is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word "amita" which means "boundless" ( 無量 , "wuliang"). "Fo" is the Chinese word for "Buddha". In Vietnamese , Korean , and Japanese,

632-434: A copy today (excluding private collections and fragments) is: Biographies probably occasionally mix Ippen 's life with those of other monks such as Hōnen , especially in relation to his apprenticeship at Tendai. Other famous monks also had their biographies depicted in emakimono , including Hōnen and Shinran . The very first version, known as that of Shōkai (disciple and close to Ippen during his lifetime),

790-695: A doctrine, or even as an act of faith, because copying illustrated sutras must allow communion with the deities (a theory even accredits the idea that the Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki would have aimed to pacify evil spirits). Proselytising, favoured by the emergence of the Pure Land Buddhist sects during the Kamakura era, changed the methods of emakimono production, because works of proselytism were intended to be copied and disseminated widely in many associated temples, explaining

948-478: A former king who, having come into contact with Buddhist teachings through the buddha Lokeśvararāja , renounced his throne. He then resolved to become a Buddha and to create a buddhakṣetra (literally "buddha-field", often called a "Pureland" or "Buddha Land": a realm existing in the primordial universe outside of ordinary reality, produced by a buddha's merit) possessed of many perfections. These resolutions were expressed in his forty-eight vows , which set out

1106-412: A highly personalized portrait of Ippen, but also a contemporary picture of Japanese landscapes and its inhabitants." Historians' studies focus on housing, clothing, food, travel, economic activities, rituals and social and cultural practices. As Ippen devoted his life to travelling, the urban as well as the rural aspect stands out. The swarming crowds in town are reminiscent of the art of ukiyo-e in

1264-602: A lesser extent, in Korea , the main sources of Japanese artistic inspiration until modern times. Narrative art forms in China can be traced back to between the 3rd century CE under the Han dynasty and the 2nd century CE under the Zhou dynasty , the pottery of which was adorned with hunting scenes juxtaposed with movements. Paper was invented in China in about the 1st century CE, simplifying

1422-573: A monk, remains remarkable for its influences, so far rare, from the Song dynasty (via the wash technique ) and the Tang dynasty (the shan shui style), as well as by its very precise representations of forts in many Japanese landscapes. As for the Saigyō Monogatari Emaki  [ fr ] , it addresses the declining aristocracy in idealising the figure of the monk aesthete Saigyō by

1580-600: A more "professional" and successful technique. The art historians consider that the composition and painting techniques they see in the masterpieces of the late Heian period (second half of the 12th century) were already very mature. If almost all emakimono belong to the genre of yamato-e , several sub-genres stand out within this style, including in the Heian period onna-e ("women's painting") and otoko-e ("men's painting"). Several classic scrolls of each genre perfectly represent these pictorial movements. First,

1738-437: A penchant for the common. The drawings of the buildings still in existence today are for the most part so detailed that sketches must have been made on the spot during Ippen 's travels, probably by En'i himself. The contrast between the precision of architectural details and unrealistic parallel perspective is felt in all the buildings. H. Okudaira also writes that "there is often a strong association between human emotions and

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1896-556: A phase when Chinese techniques were copied, the art of the Japanese archipelago became progressively more delicate, lyrical, decorative with less powerful but more colorful compositions. Nevertheless, it was especially in secular art that the nascent yamato-e was felt most strongly; its origins went back to the sliding partitions and screens of the Heian Imperial Palace , covered with paintings on paper or silk,

2054-412: A point of view that reflects the narration, and to create a rhythm that best expresses the feelings and emotions of the moment. In general, there are thus two main categories of emakimono : those which alternate the calligraphy and the image, each new painting illustrating the preceding text, and those which present continuous paintings, not interrupted by the text, where various technical measures allow

2212-647: A pure land called Sukhāvatī ( Sanskrit : "possessing happiness"). Sukhāvatī is situated in the uttermost west, beyond the bounds of our own world. By the power of his vows, Amitābha has made it possible for all who call upon him to be reborn into this land, there to undergo instruction by him in the dharma and ultimately become bodhisattvas and buddhas in their turn (the ultimate goal of Mahāyāna Buddhism). From there, these same bodhisattvas and buddhas return to our world to help yet more people while still residing in his land of Sukhāvatī , whose many virtues and joys are described. The earliest known reference to Amitābha in

2370-408: A scene to suggest the flow of time and vary the rhythm with great economy of means, is also used on several paintings, for example the scene of the warriors ( Scroll IV, Section 3 ), who, in the centre, first threaten Ippen , but then, at top left, are converted by the monk. Ippen having dedicated his life to roaming, the travel scenes dominate the work, but despite the importance of the landscapes,

2528-582: A school he founded in honour of his father Fujiwara no Takanobu ). Among the temple workshops, it is known that the Kōzan-ji workshop was particularly prolific, under the leadership of the monk Myōe , a great scholar who brought in many works from Song dynasty China. Thus, the Jōnin brushstrokes on the Kegon Engi Emaki or the portrait of Myōe reveal the first Song influences in Japanese painting. However,

2686-586: A temple, and the religious scrolls do not refrain from representing popular things. So, for example, the Hōnen Shōnin Eden  [ fr ] presents a rich overview of medieval civilization. Colophons and comparative studies sometimes allow for the deduction of the name of the artist of an emakimono : for example, the monk En'i  [ fr ] signed the Ippen Shōnin Eden , historians designate Tokiwa Mitsunaga  [ fr ] as

2844-462: A very different style from that of this work, it foreshadows the golden age of the movement that came four centuries later, from the 12th century CE onwards. The Heian period appears today as a peak of Japanese civilization via the culture of the emperor's court, although intrigue and disinterest in things of the state resulted in the Genpei War . This perception arises from the aesthetics and

3002-580: A wealthy patron of the court, probably a Ji-shū convert, to make an offering to Kankikō-ji . The most commonly advanced hypothesis as to the identity of this patron is that of the Grand Chancellor Kujō Tadanori . Recognised as a National Treasure of Japan , the emakimono belongs to the Kankikō-ji temple in Kyoto (founded by Shōkai with the support of Kujō Tadanori ), but

3160-536: Is a work of Kushan art , made during the Kushan Empire (30–375 CE), and was dedicated to "Amitābha Buddha" by a family of merchants. Gregory Schopen translates the inscription as follows: The 26th year of the Great King Huveṣka, the 2nd month, the 26th day. On this day by Nāgarakṣita, the (father) of the trader (Sax-caka), the grandson of the merchant Balakatta, the (son of Buddhapila), an image of

3318-512: Is also called Amida Nyorai ( Japanese : 阿弥陀如来 , "the Tathāgata Amitābha") . In Tibetan, Amitābha is called འོད་དཔག་མེད་ Wylie : ' od dpag med , THL : Öpakmé and in its reflex form as Amitāyus, ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་ Wylie : tshe dpag med , THL : Tsépakmé . They are iconographically distinct. When in the descending standing position, Amitābha is often shown with left arm bare and extended downward with thumb and forefinger touching, with

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3476-594: Is considered one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas known also as the Five Tathagatas together with Akshobhya , Amoghasiddhi , Ratnasambhava , and Vairocana . Amitābha is associated with the western direction and the skandha of saṃjñā , the aggregate of perception, or distinguishing, and the deep awareness of individuality. His co-equal is the female Buddha Pāṇḍaravāsinī . His two main disciples (the same number as Gautama Buddha ) are

3634-600: Is described as being in the West, and he works for the enlightenment of all beings (represented iconographically as a blessing Buddha). The Amitayurdhyana Sutra recommends and describes at length the practice of visualising Amitābha and the Pure Land. The other two sutras do not detail visualisation practices, and have been interpreted in different ways, such as the nianfo practice of repeatedly saying Amitābha's name. Other practices developed from these sutras include practices at

3792-546: Is focused around Amitābha Buddha. In East Asian Pure Land traditions, the main religious practice is the recitation or chanting of the phrase 南無阿彌陀佛 ( Mandarin : Nāmó Ēmítuófó, Japanese: Namu Amida Butsu) which means "Homage to Amitābha Buddha". Amitābha is also known in Tibet , Mongolia , Nepal , India and other regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. In the Highest Yogatantra of Tibetan Buddhism, Amitābha

3950-460: Is infinite". The name Amitāyus (nominative form Amitāyuḥ ) is also used for the Sambhogakāya aspect of Amitābha, particularly associated with longevity. He is mostly depicted sitting and holding in his hands a vessel containing the nectar of immortality. In Tibetan Buddhism, Amitāyus is also one of the three deities of long life (Amitāyus, White Tara and Uṣṇīṣavijayā ). Amitāyus being

4108-469: Is made up of the kanji e ( 絵 , "painting") , maki ( 巻 , "scroll" or "book") and mono ( 物 , "thing") . The term refers to long scrolls of painted paper or silk, which range in length from under a metre to several metres long; some are reported as measuring up to 12 metres (40 ft) in length. The scrolls tell a story or a succession of anecdotes (such as literary chronicles or Buddhist parables), combining pictorial and narrative elements,

4266-554: Is no intention in the paintings of this work to give a mystical or divine dimension to Ippen , who is often relegated to the background in favor of landscape illustrations. The calligraphies are more proselytising and relate the various miracles attributed to Ippen during his life, so that the text rarely corresponds to the images. The creator however avoids any excess and in this biography expresses affection and respect towards Ippen . The Shōkai version also appears very refined, full of restraint and intended for an elite, reviving

4424-720: Is now kept in the National Museums of Kyoto and Nara . Part of Scroll VII, stored at the Tokyo National Museum since 1951, and a fragment of Scroll VI belonging to a private collector, were detached at the beginning of the Meiji era . Their state of preservation is generally good, despite a few lost or erased fragments. The texts of the Shōkai version narrate the key episodes of Ippen 's life in three broad periods: his initiation and his studies of Buddhism until

4582-506: Is sometimes decorated with elaborate patterns. An emakimono can consist of several successive scrolls as required of the story – the Hōnen Shōnin Eden  [ fr ] was made up of 48 scrolls, although the standard number typically falls between one and three. An emakimono is made up of two elements: the sections of calligraphic text known as kotoba-gaki , and the sections of paintings referred to as e ; their size, arrangement and number vary greatly, depending on

4740-465: Is the easiest way to distinguish them. Amitāyus is an emanation of Amitābha. Amitābha is the head of the Lotus family. In Vajrayana, Amitābha is the most ancient of the Five Tathagatas . He is of red color originating from the red seed syllable hrīḥ . He represents the cosmic element of "Sanjana" (name). His vehicle is the peacock. He exhibits Samadhi Mudra his two palms folded face up, one on top of

4898-426: Is visible. The narrative assumes a series of scenes, the rhythm, composition and transitions of which are entirely the artist's sensitivity and technique. The themes of the stories were very varied: illustrations of novels, historical chronicles, religious texts, biographies of famous people, humorous or fantastic anecdotes, etc. The Kamakura period (12th–14th century), which followed a period of unrest and civil war,

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5056-477: The Ban Dainagon Ekotoba tells of a political conspiracy in the year 866 by offering a surprising mixture of the two genres onna-e and otoko-e , with free lines and sometimes light, sometimes rich and opaque colors; this meeting of genres foreshadows the style that dominated a few decades later, during the Kamakura period . While the authority of the court rapidly declined, the end of

5214-583: The Dōjō-ji Engi Emaki  [ fr ] (16th century). On the other hand, the innovative and more spiritual influences of Chinese Song art , deeply rooted in spirituality and Zen Buddhism, initiated the dominant artistic movement of wash (ink or monochromatic painting in water, sumi-e or suiboku-ga in Japanese) in the ensuing Muromachi period , guided by such famous artists as Tenshō Shūbun or Sesshū Tōyō . A professional current

5372-492: The Genji Monogatari Emaki (designed between around 1120 and 1140), illustrating the famous eponymous novel, narrates the political and amorous intrigues of Prince Hikaru Genji ; the rich and opaque colors affixed over the entire surface of the paper ( tsukuri-e method), the intimacy and melancholy of the composition and finally the illustration of the emotional peaks of the novel taking place only inside

5530-654: The Ishiyama-dera Engi Emaki  [ fr ] (1497), the Seikō-ji Engi emaki  [ fr ] (1487) or a version of the Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki (1503); he paid great attention to details and colours, despite a common composition. In a more general way, the illustration of novels in the classic yamato-e style (such as the many versions of the Genji Monogatari Emaki or The Tales of Ise Emaki ) persisted during late medieval times. If emakimono therefore ceased to be

5688-465: The Zuijin Teiki Emaki attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane , directly present portrait galleries according to the iconographic techniques of the time. A similar change was felt in religion as the esoteric Buddhist sects of the Heian era ( Tendai and Shingon ) gave way to Pure Land Buddhism ( Jōdo ), which primarily addressed the people by preaching simple practices of devotion to

5846-437: The yamato-e style of the Kamakura period. However, unlike most emakimono of the day, the early influences of the wash technique of the Song dynasty in China are also on display. The work is based on the alternation between calligraphy and painted sequences, over 48 sections in total (in reference to the 48 wishes of Amida). Transitions between paintings are most often marked by expanses of mist or water, buildings or

6004-528: The Ippen Shōnin Eden relate the life of Ippen (1234–1289), a Buddhist monk who, in 1274, founded the Ji-shū school, one of the branches of Pure Land Buddhism that supplanted the ancient esoteric and elitist Japanese schools of the Kamakura period. Following the Pure Land principles, Ippen taught that the Amida Buddha (Amitābha) welcomes into his paradise anyone who has faith in him; he initiates

6162-665: The Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki or the Ippen Shōnin Eden . As for the workshops of the court, they satisfied the orders of the palace, whether for the illustration of novels or historical chronicles, such as the Heiji Monogatari Emaki . A form of exploitation of the story could also motivate the sponsor: for example, Heiji Monogatari Emaki were produced for the Minamoto clan (winner of

6320-411: The emakimono artists of the ensuing Kamakura period to engage in sustained production in all of the themes. The era covering the end of the Heian period and much of the Kamakura period , or the 12th and 13th centuries, is commonly described by art historians as "the golden age" of the art of emakimono . Under the impetus of the new warrior class in power, and the new Buddhist sects, production

6478-412: The yamato-e style, characterized by its subjects from Japanese life and landscapes, the staging of the human, and an emphasis on rich colours and a decorative appearance. The format of the emakimono , long scrolls of limited height, requires the solving of all kinds of composition problems: it is first necessary to make the transitions between the different scenes that accompany the story, to choose

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6636-522: The Ajitasena Sutra , Samādhirāja Sūtra and Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra . The appearance of such literature and sculptural remains at the end of the second century suggests that the teachings on Amitābha we becoming popular in the first and second centuries CE. Furthermore, there are sculptures of Amitabha in dhyani mudras as well as bronzes of Amitābha in abhaya mudra from the Gandhara era of

6794-462: The Amida Buddha . These very active sects used emakimono intensively during the 13th and 14th centuries to illustrate and disseminate their doctrines. Several religious practices influenced the Kamakura emakimono : notably, public sermons and picture explaining sessions ( 絵解 , e-toki ) led the artists to use scrolls of larger size than usual, and to represent the protagonists of

6952-551: The Edo period ; one can find there, for example, one of the first representations of the shopping district of Osaka. The artist represents both the poor and the rich, focusing on beggars and the sick who sometimes litter the place, Ippen having preached to everyone. K. Satō sees in this the desire to "show us who were the people to whom Ippen really wanted to address" in medieval society: the downgraded, beggars and outcasts. The city and country paintings, teeming with busy people depicting

7110-508: The Genpei War ), and the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba was created to extol the deeds of a samurai in search of recognition from the shōgun . These works were, it seems, intended to be read by nobles. Nevertheless, Seckel and Hasé assert that the separation between the secular and the religious remains unclear and undoubtedly does not correspond to an explicit practice: thus, the aristocrats regularly ordered emakimono to offer them to

7268-479: The Imperial Palace are characteristics of the onna-e subgenre of yamato-e , reserved for court narratives usually written by aristocratic ladies. In that scroll, each painting illustrates a key episode of the novel and is followed by a calligraphic extract on paper richly decorated with gold and silver powder. The Genji Monogatari Emaki already presents the composition techniques specific to

7426-666: The Kumano shrine , a sacred place of the Shinto religion. According to legend, he there received a revelation ( gongen ) that invited him to spread throughout the country the faith of Amida: ie any man can access the Pure Land ( ōjō ) of the Buddha Amida through the nenbutsu , that is to say the recitation invoking his name. From then onwards, Ippen travelled to temples and shrines in Japan to spread this doctrine. He also took

7584-640: The Shamarpas are considered to be emanations of Amitābha. In Shingon Buddhism , Amitābha is seen as one of the thirteen Buddhas to whom practitioners can pay homage. Shingon, like Tibetan Buddhism, also uses special devotional mantras for Amitābha, though the mantras used differ. Amitābha is also one of the Buddhas featured in the Womb Realm Mandala used in Shingon practices , and sits to

7742-613: The Shōkai and Sōshun versions exist, such as the Shinkō-ji copy (1323), rather burlesque in the vein of the otogi-zōshi movement, the Miei-dō copy (second half of the 14th or early 15th century), close to the original of 1299, and the Kōmyō-ji copy (in Yamagata , made in 1594 by Kanō Eitoku ), aiming at the extraordinary. The exhaustive list of temples or institutions with

7900-513: The Song dynasty . Relations with East Asia (mainly China and Korea) brought Chinese writing ( kanji ) to Japan by the 4th century, and Buddhism in the 6th century, together with interest in the apparently very effective bureaucracy of the mighty Chinese Empire . In the Nara period , the Japanese were inspired by the Tang dynasty : administration, architecture, dress customs or ceremonies. The exchanges between China and Japan were also fruitful for

8058-567: The Sōshun version diverge in the importance given to certain characters or certain details, but the plan remains very similar. The first scroll deals with Ippen 's revelation to Kumano and his early conversations about faith in Amida; the second depicts the first nenbutsu he danced, and his sermons to the people during his travels until his expulsion from Kamakura ; the third continues with Ippen 's voyages accompanied by his numerous disciples;

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8216-593: The bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Avalokiteśvara , the former to his left and the latter to his right. In Tibetan Buddhism , there exist a number of famous prayers for taking rebirth in Sukhāvatī ( Dewachen ). One of these was written by Je Tsongkhapa , on the request of Manjushri . Amitābha is primarily invoked in Tibet during the phowa practices, or invoked as Amitāyus – especially in practices relating to longevity and preventing an untimely death. The Panchen Lamas and

8374-564: The "emergence of national taste" as a truly Japanese culture departed for the first time from Chinese influence since the early Kofun period . This development was first observed in the literature of the Heian women: unlike the men, who studied Chinese writing from a young age, the women adopted a new syllabary , hiragana , which was simpler and more consistent with the phonetics of Japanese. Heian period novels ( monogatari ) and diaries ( nikki ) recorded intimate details about life, love affairs and intrigues at court as they developed;

8532-498: The 10th century in the Heian imperial court , especially among aristocratic ladies with refined and reclusive lives, who devoted themselves to the arts, poetry, painting, calligraphy and literature. However, no emakimono remain from the Heian period, and the oldest masterpieces date back to the "golden age" of emakimono in the 12th and 13th centuries. During this period, the techniques of composition became highly accomplished, and

8690-400: The 12th century), with dynamic and free lines, light colors and a decidedly popular and humorous tone, perfectly illustrate this movement, not hesitating to depict the life of the Japanese people in its most insignificant details. Here, the color is applied only in light touches that leave the paper bare, as the supple and free line dominates the composition, unlike the constructed paintings of

8848-445: The 9th century and tragic figure in Japanese history, revered in the manner of a god ( kami ). The rich colours, the tense contours, the search for movement and the very realistic details of the faces well illustrate this mixture of styles, especially as the paintings drew their inspiration from both Buddhism and Shinto . The realistic trends that were in vogue in Kamakura art, perfectly embodied by sculpture , were exposed in

9006-672: The Blessed One, the Buddha Amitābha was set up for the worship of all buddhas. Through this root of merit (may) all living things (obtain) the unexcelled knowledge of a buddha. Another early epigraphic mention of Amitabha (c. 610 CE) is found in Patan (Lalitpur) . It is a verse which states: I praise Amitabha, the best, dispeller of illusion by the light of great prajña . The light, victor who lives in Sukhavati with Lokesvara ,

9164-661: The Great Buddha of Kamakura ( 鎌倉大仏 ) at Kōtoku-in or the exposition mudrā, while the earth-touching mudrā (right hand pointed downward over the right leg, palm inward) is reserved for a seated Gautama Buddha alone. He can also be seen holding a lotus in his hands while displaying the meditation mudrā. There is a difference between Amitāyus and Amitābha. Amitāyus—the Buddha of Infinite Life—and Amitābha—the Buddha of Infinite Light—are essentially identical, being reflective images of one another. Sutras in which Gautama Buddha expounds

9322-521: The Heian period (in 1185) was marked by the advent of the provincial lords (in particular, the Taira and the Minamoto ), who acquired great power at the top of the state. Exploiting the unrest associated with the Genpei War , which provided fertile ground for religious proselytism, the six realms (or destinies  [ fr ] ) Buddhist paintings ( rokudō-e ) – such as the Hell Scroll or

9480-565: The Heian period onwards, emakimono came to be dissociated from China, mainly in their themes. Chinese scrolls were intended mainly to illustrate the transcendent principles of Buddhism and the serenity of the landscapes, suggesting the grandeur and the spirituality. The Japanese, on the other hand, had refocused their scrolls on everyday life and man, conveying drama, humour and feelings. Thus, emakimono began to be inspired by literature, poetry, nature and especially everyday life; in short, they formed an intimate art, sometimes in opposition to

9638-547: The Imperial Court. The exact role of En'i remains open to interpretation: the size of the emakimono and variations in styles suggest that several assistants probably collaborated under the direction of the master. Stylistic studies enable the linking of the paintings with the workshops of the Onjō-ji ( Mii-dera ) and Shōgo-in  [ fr ; ja ] temples, due to the proximity of mandalas conceived by

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9796-699: The Nara period: the Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect  [ fr ] , which traces the life of the Gautama Buddha , founder of the Buddhist religion, until his Illumination. Still naive in style ( Six Dynasties and early Tang dynasty) with the paintings arranged in friezes above the text, it is very likely a copy of an older Chinese model, several versions of which have been identified. Although subsequent classical emakimono feature

9954-487: The New Year's ceremony held by Taa in 1303, during which he identifies with Bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokiteśvara, related to Amida) and introduces himself as the co-founder of the Ji-shū school with Ippen . In the historiography of Japanese religions, the original version of the Ippen Shōnin Eden (1299) is of inestimable value, as it is the earliest and most reliable of the biographies written about Ippen and

10112-576: The aristocracy and members of the high clergy. Handscrolls are believed to have been invented in India before the 4th century CE. They were used for religious texts and entered China by the 1st century. Handscrolls were introduced to Japan centuries later through the spread of Buddhism. The earliest extant Japanese handscroll was created in the 8th century and focuses on the life of the Buddha. The origins of Japanese handscrolls can be found in China and, to

10270-453: The aristocracy in the Heian period . An emakimono consists of one or more long rolls of paper narrating a story through yamato-e texts and paintings. The reader discovers the story by progressively unrolling the scroll with one hand while rewinding it with the other hand, from right to left (according to the then horizontal writing direction of Japanese script ), so that only a portion of text or image of about 60 cm (24 in)

10428-497: The art of emakimono : an oblique point of view, the movement of the eyes guided by long diagonals from the top right to the bottom left, and even the removal of the roofs to represent the interior of buildings ( fukinuki yatai ). A second notable example of the onna-e paintings in the Heian period is the Nezame Monogatari Emaki , which appears to be very similar to the Genji Monogatari Emaki , but presents softer and more decorative paintings giving pride of place to

10586-409: The arts, mainly religious arts, and the artists of the Japanese archipelago were eager to copy and appropriate continental techniques. In that context, experts assume that the first Chinese painted scrolls arrived on the islands around the 6th century CE, and probably correspond to illustrated sutra. Thus, the oldest known Japanese narrative painted scroll (or emakimono ) dates from the 7th century to

10744-487: The author of the Ban Dainagon Ekotoba and the Nenjū Gyōji Emaki  [ fr ] , or Enichibō Jōnin  [ fr ] for part of the Kegon Engi Emaki . Nevertheless, the life of these artists remains poorly known, at most they seem to be of noble extraction. Such a background is particularly implied by the always very precise depictions in emakimono of the imperial palace (interior architecture, clothing and rituals) or official bodies (notably

10902-413: The beauty of its landscapes and its calligraphic poetry. Towards the middle of the Kamakura period, there was a revival of interest in the Heian court, which already appeared to be a peak of Japanese civilization, and its refined culture. Thus the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki , which traces the life and intrigues of Murasaki Shikibu , author of The Tale of Genji (10th century), largely reflects

11060-419: The best known of these is the radical Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu , lady-in-waiting of the 10th century Imperial Court. The beginnings of the Japanese-inspired Heian period painting technique, retrospectively named yamato-e , can be found initially in some aspects of Buddhist painting of the new esoteric Tendai and Shingon sects, then more strongly in Pure Land Buddhism ( Jodō ); after

11218-441: The change of seasons. The composition presents the same dualism between techniques typical of yamato-e and incorporation of Chinese Song and Yuan elements. "If the work is sensitive to the influence of Southern Song wash painting, it nevertheless participates, while taking up yamato-e processes, in the new realistic trends of the Kamakura period [...] and explores thus a new pictorial space." Beginning with yamato-e ,

11376-399: The characters are, for example, represented taller than in real life to be better identifiable during sermons or e-toki (public sessions of explanation of religious paintings). This version, a rare document from the early days of the school, and intended for the general public, has been more copied than the Shōkai version. In relation to several of their scenes, the various copies of

11534-429: The codified and refined art of living that developed at the Heian court, as well as a certain restraint and melancholy born from the feeling of the impermanence of things (a state of mind referred to as mono no aware in Japanese). Furthermore, the rupture of relations with China until the 9th century, due to disorders related to the collapse of the glorious Tang dynasty , promoted what Miyeko Murase has described as

11692-423: The combination of which characterises the dominant art movements in Japan between the 12th and 14th centuries. An emakimono is read, according to the traditional method, sitting on a mat with the scroll placed on a low table or on the floor. The reader then unwinds with one hand while rewinding it with the other hand, from right to left (according to the writing direction of Japanese). In this way, only part of

11850-535: The composition of the illustrations are unheard of in the art of emakimono , drawing inspiration both from Japanese yamato-e (the traditional style of the Imperial Court) and from the Chinese landscape in the wash technique of the Song dynasty and in line with the realistic tendencies in the Japanese art of the Kamakura period . The Yugyō Shonin Engi-e , completed between 1303 and 1307 under

12008-446: The construction of a story, so the composition must be based on the transitions from scene to scene until the final denouement. Emakimono were initially strongly influenced by China, as were the Japanese arts of the time; the Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect  [ fr ] incorporates many of the naive, simple styles of the Tang dynasty , although dissonances can be discerned, especially in relation to colours. From

12166-477: The contours and inking being very close to the lively and rough line. Several details reveal that the artists were inspired by the style of the Southern Song: the framing of the compositions, the depth of the landscapes rendered by a succession of images, or the use of the side of the brush rather than the tip for the contours of the mountains. The influence of Chinese landscapes explains the marked realism of

12324-462: The court. In addition, the text occupies very limited space, the artist painting rather long scenes without fixed limits. Two other masterpieces emerged into the light of day during the second half of the 12th century. First, the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga forms a monochrome sketch in ink gently caricaturing the customs of Buddhist monks, where the spontaneity of touch stands out. Secondly,

12482-428: The court. Monks were also able to produce paintings without any patronage. Secondly, in medieval Japan there were professional painters' workshops  [ fr ] ( 絵 所 , literally 'painting office' ) ; during the Kamakura period, professional production dominated greatly, and several categories of workshops were distinguished: those officially attached to the palace ( kyūtei edokoro ), those attached to

12640-511: The creativity of classical scrolls is felt even less in otogi-zōshi , because even though the composition is similar, the lack of harmony of colors and the overloaded appearance are detrimental; it seems that the production is often the work of amateurs. However, a field of study of nara-ehon and the nara-e pictorial style exists on the fringes and stands out from the framework of emakimono . Various other artists, notably Tawaraya Sōtatsu and Yosa Buson , were still interested in

12798-466: The crucial lack of information and documents on these rare known artists leads Japanese art historians rather to identify styles, workshops, and schools of production. Amit%C4%81bha According to the Larger Sūtra of Immeasurable Life , Amitābha was, in very ancient times and possibly in another system of worlds, a monk named Dharmākara. In some versions of the sūtra , Dharmākara is described as

12956-577: The daily life of the Japanese people, foreshadow later Japanese genre painting, the best-known movement of which is ukiyo-e . [REDACTED] Media related to Ippen Shōnin Eden at Wikimedia Commons Emakimono Illustrated handscrolls , emakimono ( 絵巻物 , lit.   ' illustrated scroll ' , also emaki-mono ) , or emaki ( 絵巻 ) is an illustrated horizontal narration system of painted handscrolls that dates back to Nara-period (710–794 CE) Japan . Initially copying their much older Chinese counterparts in style, during

13114-627: The destroyer of the fear arising in the world, bearer of the lotus, and Mahasthamaprapta , the affectionate-hearted one. Regarding textual evidence, the earliest Buddhist sutra mentioning Amitābha is the translation into Chinese of the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra (般舟三昧經; Bozhōu Sānmèi Jīng ) by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema around 180. This text has been dated to between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE by modern buddhologists. Other early Mahayana texts mentioning Amitabha include

13272-651: The dominant artistic media in Japan since the end of the Kamakura period, it is in the illustration movement of Otogi-zōshi ( otogi meaning "to tell stories") that emakimono developed a new popular vigour in the 15th and 16th centuries (the Muromachi period); the term nara-ehon (literally, "the book of illustrations of Nara ") sometimes designated them in a controversial way (because they were anachronistic and combined books with scrolls), or more precisely as otogi-zōshi emaki or nara-emaki . These are small, symbolic and funny tales, intended to pass

13430-445: The early 14th century, between 1303 and 1307; only copies remain. These emakimono consist of ten scrolls, but the last six are dedicated to Taa , disciple and successor of Ippen and probably master of Sōshun ; the text thus takes the point of view of Taa , rather than that of Ippen . The Sōshun version aims to consolidate Taa 's position as Ippen 's rightful successor, and presents an idealized and exaggerated view of

13588-516: The faithful to the daily recitation of the name of the Amida Buddha ( nenbutsu ) and the rituals of ecstatic dances and songs ( odori nenbutsu ), a simple religious practice accessible to all, even the poor and the uneducated. According to the accounts of the time, this doctrine would have been revealed to Ippen by a manifestation of the Buddha; Ippen then devoted his life to travelling throughout Japan, especially rural areas, to carry

13746-404: The fluid transitions between the scenes. Today, emakimono offer a unique historical glimpse into the life and customs of Japanese people, of all social classes and all ages, during the early part of medieval times. Few of the scrolls have survived intact, and around 20 are protected as National Treasures of Japan . The term emakimono or e-makimono , often abbreviated as emaki ,

13904-409: The founding of the Ji-shū school, especially since its author, Shōkai , was a close relative and disciple of the monk. Testifying to a new Buddhist art under the Kamakura period, the work provides information on the architecture of many temples, and the religious practices of the time, in particular pilgrimages and nenbutsu , are well illustrated. The Yugyō Shōnin Engi-e , which reflects more

14062-419: The fourth concerns the end of life and the death of the patriarch; the fifth shows Taa 's first sermon to a small local lord and the new hope it arouses among the faithful of the school; scrolls six to nine represent Taa 's pilgrimages, sermons and nenbutsu dances, as well as the many miracles (in particular the apparitions of gods and bodhisattvas ) punctuating their course; and the tenth scroll features

14220-477: The glories of Sukhavati, the Pure Lands, speak of the presiding Buddha sometimes as Amitābha and sometimes as Amitāyus. When depicted as Amitāyus he is depicted in fine clothes and jewels and as Amitābha in simple monk's clothing. They are also simply known as Amida in the Chinese and Japanese tradition. The image of the gold colored statue in the article is of Amitāyus as he is wearing a five-pointed crown, which

14378-400: The great temples and shrines ( jiin edokoro ), or finally those hosted by a few senior figures. The study of certain colophons and period texts makes it possible to associate many emakimono with these professional workshops, and even sometimes to understand how they function. When produced by the temple workshops, emakimono were intended mainly as proselytism, or to disseminate

14536-413: The horizon. The colour itself finally makes it possible to reinforce the hollows and reliefs. Realism, much appreciated by the Kamakura bushis , was thus born from the influences of the Chinese landscape, but also reinforced by the dynamic and very detailed representation of everyday life. The emakimono of the 13th century attached particular importance to the representation of crowds here, with

14694-512: The imperial police ( 検非違使 , kebiishi ) ). The Shigisan Engi Emaki illustrates that point well, as the precision of both religious and aristocratic motifs suggests that the painter is close to those two worlds. Perhaps a more famous artist is Fujiwara no Nobuzane , aristocrat of the Fujiwara clan and author of the Zuijin Teiki Emaki , as well as various suites of realistic portraits ("likeness pictures" ( 似絵 , nise-e ) ,

14852-420: The importance of the monk) and not in paper as is most common. Its creation in 1299 is attributed to Shōkai , author of the text, while the paintings were carried out under the direction of the painter En'i ( 円伊 ) , probably a disciple of Ippen during his lifetime, as evidenced by the faithful transcription of his life, and who could have been a high priest of Onjō-ji or a professional painter linked to

15010-530: The initiators of the classical emakimono , are to be found at the emperor's court in Heian, among the aristocrats versed in the various arts. Period sources mention in particular painting competitions ( e-awase ) where the nobles competed around a common theme from a poem, as described by Murasaki Shikibu in The Tale of Genji . Their work seems to focus more on the illustration of novels ( monogatari ) and diaries ( nikki ), rather feminine literature of

15168-412: The ladies of the court. In addition, the initial themes remained close to waka poetry (seasons, Buddhism, nature and other themes). Therefore, the slow maturation of the movement of emakimono was closely linked to the emergence of Japanese culture and literature, as well as to the interest of ladies soon joined by professional painters from palace workshops ( e-dokoro ) or temples, who created

15326-434: The landscapes of the time (notably offering one of the first pictorial views of Mount Fuji). Today, the work presents such invaluable insights that it is widely studied, as much by historians as by art historians. "The theme of this work combines the biography with a framework imbued with popular life and landscapes, and both aspects are rendered with the realism characteristic of the Kamakura period. We are thus given not only

15484-413: The large number of more or less similar copies on the lives of great monks and the founding of the important temples. Various historians emphasise the use of emakimono in sessions of picture explaining ( 絵 解 , e-toki ) , during which a learned monk detailed the contents of the scrolls to a popular audience. Specialists thus explicate the unusually large dimensions of the different versions of

15642-511: The leadership of Sōshun in ten rolls of paper, covers the biographies of Ippen and especially of his successor Taa . Less refined, it has a proselytising vocation and aims to establish Taa 's legitimacy as co-founder of the school. This version, now destroyed, has reached us through its various copies. Originating in Japan in the sixth or seventh century through trade with the Chinese Empire, emakimono art spread widely among

15800-524: The lightness of the tones ( otoko-e ), as well as bright colors rendered by thick pigments for certain elements of the scenes ( onna-e ). However, the very refined appearance of the court paintings later gave way to more dynamic and popular works, at least in relation to the theme, in the manner of the Shigisan Engi Emaki . For example, the Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki recounts the life and death of Sugawara no Michizane , Minister in

15958-592: The literary and pictorial tradition of the Heian court. The paintings and texts give a lyrical atmosphere to the work, via the themes of poetry, travel and pilgrimage. The landscapes are very numerous, faithfully transcribing easily recognizable famous Japanese sights, such as the emergence of Mount Fuji above the mist, the Itsukushima Shrine or the Nachi Falls , as well as numerous temples and places of pilgrimage such as Mount Kōya or Kumano shrine ,

16116-501: The majority of the Kamakura emakimono ; indeed, the bakufu shogunate system held power over Japan, and the refined and codified art of the court gave way to more fluidity and dynamism. The greater simplicity advocated in the arts led to a more realistic and human representation (anger, pain or size). If the activity related to religion was prolific, then so too were the orders of the bushi (noble warriors). Several emakimono of historical or military chronicles are among

16274-586: The message. Born in 1239, Ippen was the second son of a family of the Kōno samurai clan in Iyo Province . He entered religious orders at the age of fifteen and studied the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism (known in Japan as Jōdo ) in Dazaifu with Shōtatsu ( 聖達 ) , himself a disciple of Shōkū ( 証空 ) , before devoting himself to hermit meditation in the mountains. In the summer of 1274, Ippen retired to

16432-566: The moment of death, call upon him. This openness and acceptance of all kinds of people has made belief in pure lands one of the major influences in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism seems to have first become popular in Gandhara , from where it spread to China infused with Taoists and Confucian philosophy before spreading to Central and East Asia . The sutra goes on to explain that Amitābha, after accumulating great merit over countless lives, finally achieved buddhahood and created

16590-426: The monk. As many copies of these two original emakimono were subsequently produced, the whole group is often referred to under the term Ippen Shōnin Eden . The Ippen Hijiri-e , the original version created by Shōkai ( 聖 戒 ) and painted by En'i  [ fr ] , consists of twelve rolls of silk, a very expensive material, with alternating calligraphy texts and paintings. The pictorial style and

16748-664: The most famous, notably the Hōgen Monogatari Emaki  [ fr ] (no longer extant) and the Heiji Monogatari Emaki ; of the latter, the scroll kept at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston remains highly regarded for its mastery of composition (which reaches a crescendo at the dramatic climax of the scroll, i.e. the burning of the palace and the bloody battle between foot soldiers), and for its contribution to present day understanding of Japanese medieval weapons and armour. Akiyama Terukazu describes it as "a masterpiece on

16906-400: The name of Ippen and lead the life of an itinerant pilgrim, distributing tablets with the nenbutsu inscribed on them. As a sign of a time when religious education was becoming more popular and accessible, Ippen preached in all places of everyday life: inns, markets, villages ... He accompanied his recitations of the name of Amida with ecstatic dances ( odori nenbutsu ) which seduced

17064-434: The names of the "masters" of emakimono . Moreover, a scroll can be the fruit of collaboration by several artists; some techniques such as tsukuri-e even naturally incline to such collaboration. Art historians are more interested in determining the social and artistic environment of painters: amateurs or professionals, at court or in temples, aristocrats or of modest birth. In the first place, amateur painters, perhaps

17222-467: The narrative scroll until around the 17th century. The Kanō school used narrative scrolls in the same way; Kanō Tan'yū realised several scrolls on the Tokugawa battles, particularly that of Sekigahara in his Tōshō Daigongen Engi , where he was inspired in places by the Heiji Monogatari Emaki (13th century). In essence, an emakimono is a narrative system (like a book) that requires

17380-478: The natural world" in this type of emakimono . There is in fact a correspondence between certain landscapes and feelings conveyed by the story, for example the cherry trees of Iyo painted just after flowering when Ippen leaves his home, to evoke the separation. The emakimono based on the Sōshun biography, known as Yugyō Shōnin Engi-e or Ippen Shōnin Ekotoba den , is later than Shokai, from

17538-657: The nobles, did not fit well with painting of Chinese sensibility, so much so that court artists developed to a certain extent a new national technique which appeared to be fashionable in the 11th century, for example in the seasonal landscapes of the panel paintings in the Phoenix Hall ( 鳳凰堂 , Hōō-dō ) or Amida Hall at the Byōdō-in temple, a masterpiece of primitive yamato-e of the early 11th century. Experts believe that yamato-e illustrations of novels and painted narrative scrolls, or emakimono , developed in

17696-537: The oldest emakimono illustrating a novel mentioned in period sources is that of the Yamato Monogatari , offered to the Empress between 872 and 907. However, the stylistic mastery of later works (from the 12th century) leads most experts to believe that the "classical" art of emakimono grew during this period from the 10th century, first appearing in illustrations in novels or diaries produced by

17854-502: The one hand, emakimono had become less inspired, marked by an extreme aesthetic mannerism (such as the exaggerated use of gold and silver powder) with a composition more technical than creative; the tendency to multiply the scenes in a fixed style can be seen in the Hōnen Shōnin Eden  [ fr ] (the longest known emakimono , with 48 scrolls, completed in 1307), the Kasuga Gongen Genki E (1309) and

18012-480: The other, lying on his lap. The lotus is his sign. When represented on the stupa, he always faces toward west. He is worshiped thinking that one can have salvation. The first known epigraphic evidence for Amitābha is the bottom part of a statue found in Govindnagar, Pakistan and now located at Government Museum, Mathura . The statue is dated to "the 26th year of the reign of Huviṣka " i.e., 104 CE. It

18170-476: The painter alternates stylised landscapes inspired by traditional Heian poetry and realistic representations of places and people, an original approach in the emakimono movement. By comparison, other illustrated biographies of monks (such as the Hōnen Shōnin Eden  [ fr ] ) emphasise the characters and the dynamism of the narrative, or fall into stereotyping and repetition. The emakimono , characterized by its realism and colours, belongs to

18328-526: The painting techniques of the time, notably the tsukuri-e , but in a more decorative and extroverted style. Other works followed that trend, such as Ise Monogatari Emaki , the Makura no Sōshi Emaki  [ fr ] or the Sumiyoshi Monogatari Emaki . By the end of the Kamakura period, the art of emakimono was already losing its importance. Experts note that, on

18486-451: The paintings, especially in perspective, a realism that characterises the art of the Kamakura period. Thus, in spite of the unrealistic sizes of the characters and improbable points of view in height, the landscapes are most often deep and rigorously proportioned, reinforced by pictorial techniques such as painting the trees in a detailed way in the foreground and blurred in the background, or even flocks of birds that gradually disappear towards

18644-552: The period and the artist. In emakimono inspired by literature, the text occupies no less than two-thirds of the space, while other more popular works, such as the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga , favour the image, sometimes to the point of making the text disappear. The scrolls have a limited height (on average between 30 cm (12 in) and 39 cm (15 in)), compared with their length (on average 9 m (30 ft) to 12 m (39 ft)), meaning that emakimono are therefore limited to being read alone, historically by

18802-447: The populace with their "frenzied exaltation". In 1289, he fell ill and died in Hyōgo (now Kobe) at Kannon-dō ( Shinkō-ji ). He is said to have asked that no funeral rites be held for him. It seems that Ippen converted a large segment of the population to the Ji-shū doctrine, perhaps more than 250,000 people. From the middle of the 14th century to the early 16th century, Ji-shū

18960-464: The representation of nature subtly emphasising the feelings of the characters. In contrast with court paintings inspired by women's novels ( onna-e ) there are other scrolls inspired by themes such as the daily lives of the people, historical chronicles, and the biographies of famous monks; ultimately, a style of emakimono depicting matters outside the palace and called otoko-e ("men's painting"). The Shigisan Engi Emaki (middle of

19118-500: The revelation of 1274 in Kumano, the creation of the congregation that would become the Ji-shū school, and the end of his life as he attracted large crowds of faithful to his sermons. Throughout the biography Ippen 's sermons, prayers and many waka poems are quoted. Other texts on the foundation of temples and shrines ( engi ) visited by the monk are also included. Unlike later versions or other biographies of patriarchs, there

19276-499: The right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta on the left. This iconography is known as an Amitabha triad , and is especially common in Chinese , Japanese , and Korean art . Amitābha is said to display 84,000 auspicious and distinguishing marks reflecting his many virtues. Amitābha can often be distinguished by his mudrā : Amitābha is often depicted, when shown seated, displaying the meditation mudrā (thumbs touching and fingers together as in

19434-425: The right hand facing outward also with thumb and forefinger touching. The meaning of this mudra is that wisdom (symbolized by the raised hand) is accessible to even the lowest beings, while the outstretched hand shows that Amitābha's compassion is directed at the lowest beings, who cannot save themselves. When not depicted alone, Amitābha is often portrayed with two assistant bodhisattvas, usually Avalokiteśvara on

19592-499: The same Chinese characters used for Amitābha are used to represent his name, though they are pronounced slightly differently: In addition to transliteration, the name Amitābha has also been translated into Chinese using characters which, taken together, convey the meaning "Infinite Light": 無量光 (Wúliàngguāng). In the same fashion, the name Amitāyus ("Infinite Life") has been translated as 無量壽 (Wúliàngshòu). These translated names are not, however, very commonly used. In Japanese, Amitābha

19750-491: The same section in order to energise the story, which can sometimes be unusually distant, so that the details and the crowd become minuscule. Landscape scenes, often performed in the styles of Chinese Tang ("blue and green"), Song and Yuan painting, dominate the composition in the Chinese lyrical and spiritual tradition (the art of shan shui ). In particular, the first influences of the Song wash technique in Japan show through,

19908-557: The school. Unlike the Shōkai version, it clearly had a goal of proselytising, with the aim of converting and teaching poorly educated people. As a result, its composition is simpler and more varied, centred on the anecdotal, ultimately to convey everyday feelings such as humour or emotion, as well as the miraculous. Presumably, the artist was seeking to transmit the Amidist teaching through images, which required stylistic and narrative changes -

20066-404: The scrolls exploit the classical composition techniques of emakimono : the whole is based on long parallel vanishing lines that accompany the eye movement and suggest depth, as well as distant elevated viewpoints (so-called "bird's-eye" perspective) and the intensive use of mists ( suyari ). The classic iji-dō-zu technique, which consists of representing the same character several times in

20224-422: The search for Chinese spiritual greatness. The first Japanese themes in the Heian period were very closely linked to waka literature and poetry: paintings of the seasons, the annual calendar of ceremonies, the countryside and finally the famous landscapes of the Japanese archipelago ( meisho-e  [ fr ] ). Subsequently, the Kamakura warriors and the new Pure Land Buddhist sects diversified

20382-470: The story as seen fit. Emakimono are therefore a narrative genre similar to the book, developing romantic or epic stories, or illustrating religious texts and legends. Fully anchored in the yamato-e style, these Japanese works are above all an everyday art, centered on the human being and the sensations conveyed by the artist. Although the very first 8th-century emakimono were copies of Chinese works, emakimono of Japanese taste appeared from

20540-402: The story can be seen – about 60 centimetres (24 in), though more can be unrolled – and the artist creates a succession of images to construct the story. Once the emakimono has been read, the reader must rewind the scroll again in its original reading direction. The emakimono is kept closed by a cord and stored alone or with other rolls in a box intended for this purpose, and which

20698-434: The story in a somewhat disproportionate way compared with emakimono of the standard sizes, to enable those protagonists to be seen from a distance, in a typically Japanese non-realistic perspective (such as the Ippen Shōnin Eden ). The religious emakimono of the Kamakura period focus on the foundation of the temples, or the lives of famous monks. During that period, many of the religious institutions commissioned

20856-529: The subject of the world's military." In the same spirit, a noble warrior had the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba designed to recount his military exploits during the Mongol invasions of Japan . Kamakura art particularly flourished in relation to realistic portraiture ( nise-e ); if the characters in the emakimono therefore evolved towards greater pictorial realism, some, such as the Sanjūrokkasen emaki , or

21014-424: The subjective and non-realistic Japanese perspective remains tangible, the main elements of each section being enlarged in relation to the proportions of the sets. In particular, Ippen and his group always appear unusually tall compared with other characters and buildings, as they are central to the story (the religious emakimono had mainly a didactic interest). The point of view adopted varies between scenes in

21172-610: The subjects even more widely. Despite the wide range of emakimono themes, specialists like to categorise them, both in substance and in form. An effective method of differentiating emakimono comes back to the study of the subjects by referring to the canons of the time. The categorisation proposed by Okudaira and Fukui thus distinguishes between secular and religious paintings: A third category covers more heterogeneous works, mixing religion and narration or religion and popular humour. The authors of emakimono are most often unknown nowadays and it remains risky to speculate as to

21330-404: The subjects were even more varied than before, dealing with history, religion, romances, and other famous tales. The patrons who sponsored the creation of these emakimono were above all the aristocrats and Buddhist temples. From the 14th century, the emakimono genre became more marginal, giving way to new movements born mainly from Zen Buddhism. Emakimono paintings mostly belong to

21488-454: The succeeding Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura periods (1185–1333), Japanese emakimono developed their own distinct style. The term therefore refers only to Japanese painted narrative scrolls. As in the Chinese and Korean scrolls, emakimono combine calligraphy and illustrations and are painted, drawn or stamped on long rolls of paper or silk sometimes measuring several metres. The reader unwinds each scroll little by little, revealing

21646-538: The supernatural (a number of otogi-zōshi emaki depict all sorts of yōkai and folk creatures), as well as social caricatures and popular novels. Among the preserved examples are genre paintings such as Buncho no sasshi and Sazare-ichi , or supernatural Buddhist tales such as the Tsuchigumo Sōshi or the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki  [ fr ] . From the point of view of art historians,

21804-404: The themes and techniques were even more varied than before, signalling the "golden age" of emakimono (the 12th and 13th centuries). The Ippen Shōnin Eden fits into this context. Biographies of monks ( kōsōden-e or eden ) were very popular at the time of the Kamakura, that theme being favoured by the emergence of many Pure Land Buddhist schools. The various versions and copies of

21962-427: The themes of which were chosen from waka court poetry, annual rites, seasons or the famous lives and landscapes of the archipelago ( meisho-e  [ fr ] ). This secular art then spread among the nobles, especially the ladies interested in the illustration of novels, and seems to have become prevalent early in the 10th century. As with religious painting, the themes of Japanese life, appreciated by

22120-428: The thought of Taa , the second patriarch of the school, than that of Ippen , is therefore rather centred on the early days of the history of Ji-shū . Beyond Buddhism, Japanese syncretism sometimes shines through, especially when Ippen honours Shinto shrines. An everyday art, Shōkai 's original version of the emakimono also provides a detailed testimony to the daily life of medieval Japan, as well as to

22278-435: The time focusing on mythology, folklore, legends, religious beliefs or even contemporary society. This particular form of emakimono dates back to Heian times, but it was under Muromachi that it gained real popularity. The relative popularity of otogi-zōshi seems to have stemmed from a burgeoning lack of enthusiasm for hectic or religious stories; the people had become more responsive to themes of dreams, laughter and

22436-424: The time of death, such as visualising Amitābha in the heaven (sun) over their head (Western horizon), think his name as a mantra, and leaving the body as a soul through the acupuncture point Bai Hui (百會). East Asian Buddhist traditions commonly invoke Amitābha's name in a practice known as nianfo ( 念佛 ) in Chinese and nembutsu in Japanese. This is the central practice of East Asian Pure Land Buddhism which

22594-478: The two versions of the Gaki Zōshi  [ fr ] , otoko-e paintings – aimed to frighten the faithful with horror scenes. Retracing the evolution of emakimono remains difficult, due to the few works that have survived. However, the obvious mastery of the classical scrolls of the end of the Heian period testifies to at least a century of maturation and pictorial research. These foundations permitted

22752-794: The type of Pureland Dharmākara aspired to create, the conditions under which beings might be born into that world, and what kind of beings they would be when reborn there. In the versions of the sutra widely known in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, Dharmākara's eighteenth vow was that any being in any universe desiring to be reborn into Amitābha's pure land ( Chinese : 淨土 ; pinyin : jìngtǔ ; Japanese pronunciation : jōdo ; Korean : 정토 ; romaja : jeongto ; Vietnamese : tịnh độ ) and calling upon his name with sincerity, even as few as ten times will be guaranteed rebirth there. His nineteenth vow promises that he, together with his bodhisattvas and other blessed Buddhists, will appear before those who, at

22910-458: The underlying Indic form: oṃ amṛta-teje hara hūṃ . The proper form of Amitābha's name in Sanskrit is Amitābha , masculine, and the nominative singular is Amitābhaḥ . This is a compound of the Sanskrit words amita ("without bound, infinite") and ābhā ("light, splendor"). Consequently, the name is to be interpreted as "he who possesses light without bound, he whose splendor

23068-576: The various emakimono bearing this title, the original version from 1299, named Ippen Hijiri-e ( 一遍 聖 絵 , "Paintings from the life of the holy man Ippen") , is the best known and most famous. A second version, made in a more accessible style in the 14th century, and named Yugyō Shonin Engi-e ( 遊行上人縁起絵 , "The Pictorial Origin Story of the Itinerant Saint") , also recounts the biography of

23226-463: The vein of this secular art, linked to literature and poetry. The painting technique lent itself fully to the artistic tastes of the court in the 11th century, inclined to an emotional, melancholic and refined representation of relations within the palace, and formed a pictorial vector very suited to the narrative. Even though they are mentioned in the antique texts, no emakimono of the early Heian period (9th and 10th centuries) remains extant today;

23384-402: The version referred to as Sōshun ( 宗 俊 ) (pupil of Taa ( 他阿 ) , himself a disciple of Ippen ), completed between 1304 and 1307, and now lost. The oldest and most famous of the Shōkai versions is known as Ippen Hijiri-e ( 一遍 聖 絵 ) and of the Sōshun versions is called Yugyō Shōnin Engi-e ( 遊行上人縁起絵 ) or Ippen Shōnin Ekotoba den ( 一遍上人絵詞伝 ) . Various direct or indirect copies of

23542-454: The visiting of which had great importance in Ippen 's life (and therefore loomed large). The work is similar in this sense to meisho-e  [ fr ; ja ] paintings (paintings of famous views) and travelogues, traditional themes associated with the Imperial Court and poetry. The importance given to landscapes and genre scenes remains rare in illustrated biographies of monks: here,

23700-566: The west, which is where the Pure Land of Amitābha is said to dwell. Amitābha is the center of a number of mantras in Vajrayana practices. The Sanskrit form of the mantra of Amitābha is oṃ amitābha hrīḥ ). An alternative Tibetan mantra is Om ami dewa hri (Sanskrit: oṃ amideva hrīḥ ). Amitabha's main mantra in Shingon Buddhism is Om amirita teizei kara um (Japanese: オン・アミリタ・テイゼイ・カラ・ウン ), which represents

23858-579: The workshops of painters (often monk-painters) to create emakimono recounting their foundation, or the biography of the founding monk. Among the best-known works on such themes are the illustrated biographies of Ippen , Hōnen  [ fr ] , Shinran  [ fr ] and Xuanzang , as well as the Kegon Engi Emaki and the Taima Mandara Engi Emaki  [ fr ] . The Ippen biography, painted by

24016-484: The workshops. Four main styles have been identified for the calligraphy, the work of several aristocrats of the Imperial Court led by Sesonji Tsunetada , and carried out separately on silk coupons of various colours. The sponsor is not known for sure or named on the colophon . The quality and richness of the work, carried out on silk, a luxury material and support of only one other emakimono known today (the Kasuga Gongen Genki E ), strongly suggest an order from

24174-414: The writing on scrolls of laws or sutra, sometimes decorated. The first narrative scrolls arrived later; various masters showed interest in this medium, including Gu Kaizhi (345–406), who experimented with new techniques. Genre painting and Chinese characters, dominant in the scrolls up to the 10th century CE, remain little known to this day, because they were overshadowed by the famous landscape scrolls of

24332-429: Was completed in 1299, ten years after the monk's death, and remains the best known and most studied by historians and specialists in art history: with it, the art of the emakimono reaches "one of its peaks". The work consists of twelve scrolls 0.38 m (1 ft 3 in) high and 9.22 m × 10.90 m (30.2 ft × 35.8 ft) long, which have the distinction of being in silk (probably to mark

24490-410: Was indeed very sustained and the themes and techniques more varied than before. The emakimono style of the time was characterized by two aspects: the synthesis of the genres of yamato-e , and realism. Initially, the evolution marked previously by the Ban Dainagon Ekotoba (very late Heian era) was spreading very widely due to the importance given both to the freedom of brush strokes and

24648-407: Was marked by the arrival in power of the warrior class (the samurai ). This politically and socially unstable period provided fertile ground for Buddhism to proselytize, whether through the depiction of the sutras , or by illustrated accounts of the lives of illustrious monks. Under the impetus of the new warrior class in power and the new Buddhist sects, artistic production was very sustained and

24806-526: Was nevertheless maintained by the Tosa school : the only one still to claim the yamato-e , it produced many emakimono to the order of the court or the temples (this school of painters led the imperial edokoro until the 18th century). Tosa Mitsunobu notably produced several works on the foundation of temples: the Kiyomizu-dera Engi Emaki  [ fr ] (1517), a scroll of

24964-442: Was probably one of the most popular Amidist schools in Japan. However, in the 16th century, it greatly lost influence, and nowadays it is no longer a minority religious movement. The emakimono narrating the life of Ippen and collectively known as Ippen Shōnin Eden are divided into two lineages: those from the version known as Shōkai ( 聖 戒 ) (disciple and younger brother or nephew of Ippen), made in 1299, and those from

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