The Paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Recently Rediscovered Paintings from the Shingon-Dō of the Abandoned Temple Eikyū-ji

The Paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:Recently Rediscovered Paintings from the Shingon-Dō of the Abandoned Temple Eikyū-jiAuthor(s): Taka Yanagisawa and Samuel Crowell MorseSource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 37 (1984), pp. 6-37Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111142 .

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The Paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the

Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:

Recently Rediscovered Paintings from the

Shingon-d? of the Abandoned Temple Eikyu-ji

Taka YanagisAWA Translated and adapted by

Tokyo National Research Institute Samuel Crowell Morse

of Cultural Properties Amherst College

translator's preface: Taka Yanagisawa,

presently head of the First Research Section of the

Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural

Properties, has long been recognized as one of

Japan's leading authorities of the study of Japa nese Buddhist painting. Originally specializing in

the painting of the Heian period, she has also

done pioneering work on the Buddhist painting of Central Asia and of Tun-huang as well as on

the paintings of the Sh?s?-in and on Buddhist

painting of the Kamakura period. One of her

long-standing interests has been the paintings that were originally in the Shingon-d?a of Eiky?

ji,b a large temple in Nara prefecture connected

with Isonokami Shrine,c which was abandoned

and dismantled in the Meiji period. The present

article, which first appeared in the volume on

Buddhist painting in Zaigai nihon no shih?,1 is

Miss Yanagisawa's latest work on this topic, and

introduces four paintings that had been ignored since the start of this century.

Miss Yanagisawa's method combines detailed

observation, including the use of scientific instru

ments, with expert analysis of iconography,

painting technique, and style, and has resulted in

many major discoveries concerning the history of

Buddhist painting in Japan. Until now, an exam

ple of her method has not been available in a

Western language, so it was with great pleasure that I agreed to translate the following article.

Some changes have been made from the original

Japanese to adapt the material for a Western au

dience.

S.C.M.

INTRODUCTION

In the fall of 1978, I traveled to the United

States at the invitation of the Japan Institute of

Harvard University, and I was given the oppor

tunity to study the Japanese Buddhist paintings in

the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston?the largest such collection in the West. When I first saw the

paintings of the Four Deva Kings (Shitenn?d) discussed here (Figs. 1-4), I was astonished. De

6

spite their damaged condition, they were of such

high quality that I surmised that they might be the mid-Kamakura period paintings of the Four

Deva Kings that were originally installed in the

great abandoned temple, Eiky?-ji, near Tenri in

Nara prefecture. For reasons described below the

existence of these works had been documented,

but their location remained unknown.



In their only extensive publication in English, Ernest F. Fenollosa described these paintings as

being works of the almost legendary Heian pe

riod master Kose Kanaokae (active late ninth

early tenth centuries A.D.), and done in the style of the T'ang painter Wu Tao-tzu^ (active ca. A.D.

710-760).2 He also stated that they had been in

cluded among the treasures of T?dai-ji before

coming to the Museum of Fine Arts. Museum

records indicate that they had indeed been col

lected by Fenollosa, but the paintings do not date

to the Fujiwara period, as Fenollosa believed.

If my hypothesis was correct?that these paint

ings came originally from Eikyu-ji?then I was

certain that the identity of the artist and the date of

their execution could be discovered through an

examination of the old records relating to the his

tory of the temple. After I returned to Japan, I

worked on these paintings at great length, com

paring them with other works of the period and

analyzing them in relation to the history of the

temple. The following essay presents my con

clusions, which confirm my initial assumptions and which establish the Boston pictures as new

landmarks of Buddhist painting of the Kamakura

period.

THE IDENTITY AND ICONOGRAPHY

OF THE DEVA KINGS

The paintings of the Four Deva Kings that are the

subject of this essay were collected by Ernest

Fenollosa and were registered as part of the col

lection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in

1911 with the numbers 11.4061-4. The registra tion numbers and the names of the deities were

written on slips of paper that were pasted on the

backs of the frames into which the paintings were

mounted. Since the identification of each of the

kings is a critical aspect to solving the history of

these paintings, I intend to refer to the paintings

by their registration numbers, using only the final

digit of each, until all questions of identity have

been resolved.3

The four paintings are all approximately 148 centimeters in height and about 73 centimeters in

width (see Table p. 37). These are not the original

dimensions, for the paintings have been trimmed

somewhat on all four sides. The paintings were

made up of either two or three pieces of joined

silk, and it is important to note that these provide the only example of a complete set of the Four

Deva Kings on silk extant today. As can readily be

understood from the chart listing the dimensions,

the artist took great care to use his cloth as eco

nomically as possible, cutting and joining pieces so that none of the precious material would be

wasted. Consequently, two of the paintings are

made up of three pieces of silk, while the other

two are made up of two pieces. The original di

mensions can be conjectured to have been about

153 centimeters in height and 76 centimeters in

width.

The surface of each painting is dirty and se

verely damaged, but fortunately the paintings were not heavily retouched or repaired. Some of

the most noticeable damage on the bodies of the

figures is the result of flaking of the mineral pig ments and of losses in the silk caused by chemical

reactions in the pigments, which literally ate the

silk away by oxidation (rokush?yakeS). The gold leaf applied from the back of the silk (urahakuh) appears clearly in the places where the surface of

the silk has been abraded, and other damage has

resulted from blows to the surfaces of the paint

ings. Such severe damage of this type is usually not found on Buddhist paintings that were orig

inally mounted as hanging scrolls. The damage to

the Boston paintings is very similar to that seen on

The Short Biography of the Eight Shingon Patriarchs in a private collection in Tokyo (eight paintings) and Subh?karasimha at the Kaniska St?pa and N?

g?rjuna at the Iron Caitya (two paintings) in the

Fujita Museum of Art, Osaka. Consequently, be

cause of the nature of the damage, it can be as

sumed that these paintings of the Four Deva

Kings must have originally been mounted on a

fixed partition (sh?ji1),4 where they were often

bumped into and hit. Fortunately the ink lines on

all four paintings remain comparatively clear, and

it is still possible to study the works in detail by means of infrared photographs. Before any dis

cussion of the style or history of the paintings can

be undertaken, however, it is essential to examine

the attributes of each of the deities in order to

7



Fig. i. Ch?my?. Tamon-ten, one of the Four Deva Kings, ca. 1253. Ink and polychrome on silk. 148.2 x 73.2 cm.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 11.4061.

Fig. 2. Ch?my?. K?moku-ten, one of the Four Deva Kings, ca. 1253. Ink and polychrome

on silk. 148.3 x 72.9 cm.

Accession no. 11.4064.

ascertain which painting corresponds to which of

the Four Deva Kings. Each king is depicted as a majestic general

standing on a rock in the midst of a rough sea and

accompanied by a number of jaki j The kings in

paintings nos. 2 and 3 (Figs. 3 and 4) wear hel

mets, while those in nos. 1 and 4 (Figs. 1 and 2) are

shown with their hair in high topknots decorated

with jeweled crowns. Each figure wears a large

8

breastplate, a wide belt, and armor over his legs, as well as armor plates over the stomach and groin held in place by cords tied around the hips. All

except for the king in painting no. 2 have fero

cious demon masks (obikuik) adorning the armor

over their stomachs, held in place with strips of

white cloth. The king in no. 2 wears a belt deco

rated with precious stones to hold his stomach

plate in place. All the kings wear gauntlets, and



Fig. 3. Ch?my?. Z?ch?-ten, one of the Four Deva Kings, ca. 1253. Ink and polychrome

on silk. 148.4 x 72.7 cm.


Fig. 4. Ch?my?.Jikoku-ten, one of the Four Deva Kings, ca. 1253. Ink and polychrome on silk. 147.0 x 72.5 cm.


no. 4 also wears armor on the backs of his hands.

The sleeves of all four have sharp finlike decora

tive edges, and the ends of the sleeves of the king in painting no. 3 have been tied up in knots. The

king in painting no. 4 wears high boots while the

other three wear shinguards and shoes. The de

tails of the armor of all four of the kings are differ

ent, and the motifs show great variety. From their attributes it is possible to identify

the king in painting no. i (Fig. i) as Tamon-ten1

(Vaisravana) and the one in no. 4 (Fig. 2) as

K?moku-ten01 (Vir?p?ksa). The king in painting no. 1 bends his right arm sharply, holding the

palm upward above shoulder level, and loosely

grasps a jeweled pagoda (h?t?n) with his thumb and index and third fingers. With his left hand,

which is at waist level, he holds a forked spear, which he firmly plants on the ground (Fig. 5).

9



Fig. 5. Tamon-ten. Detail of Figure i. Infrared photograph.

The jeweled pagoda is a traditional attribute of

Tamon-ten, and thus the identity of the king shown in painting no. i can be readily deter

mined. This king stands with his weight on his

right leg and violently treads on the head of a blue

jaki lying prostrate beneath him with his right foot, while his left foot is placed more lightly on

the jaki's rump. With eyebrows raised and eyes wide open in a penetrating gaze focused some

where in the distance, this king faces diagonally off to the right. Although Tamon-ten sports a

moustache his features are youthful, painted a

pale flesh color. Behind his right leg crouches a

red jaki, which is squinting its left eye and exam

ining an arrow. Beside the jaki rests a bow.

K?moku-ten, painting no. 4 (Fig. 2), twists his

upper body to the right and holds a brush in his extended right hand. He angrily looks down to

ward the brush, which he is inking from a circular

inkstone held by a blue jaki crouched immediately below his outstretched arm. In his left hand he

10

holds a blank sheet of paper at shoulder height. The brush and sheet of paper immediately iden

tify this king as K?moku, for they are his tradi

tional attributes. The weight of this king is on his

left leg, and he tramples a prostrate red jaki with

both booted feet. This jaki represents the epitome of agony?it grabs one of the boots of the king

with its left hand in a futile attempt to protect

itself, and pounds the ground with its right fist in

pain. K?moku sports a unique pendant moustache

and a long beard, and his pale flesh-colored fea

tures appear slightly foreign. Thus we can be certain that the remaining two

paintings, nos. 2 and 3 (Figs. 3 and 4) must cor

respond to Jikoku-ten? (Dhrtar?stra) and Z?ch?

tenP (Vir?dhaka), but determining which is Z?

ch? and which is Jikoku is not at all easy. Great

variation in the iconography of the Four Deva

Kings can be seen in paintings of the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries; however, I found it neces

sary to solve this problem in order to complete

my reconstruction of the paintings in their origi nal setting. The figure in painting no. 2 (Fig. 3) holds his right arm downward and grasps a sword,

which points upward at an angle from his hips. His left arm is bent at the elbow, and his left hand

is held in front of his chest as if he were intending to grasp the blade of the sword. His head, which is

held at an angle to the right, is the most badly

damaged of all the four paintings. However, it is

possible to tell that the king wears a helmet, bulls

his neck, and holds his pale flesh-colored face

angling somewhat downward while his wide

open eyes look up. This figure has both a mous

tache and a beard; his mouth is open and his ex

pression is slightly severe. It is also possible to

recognize earrings with bells attached?a detail

not included in the other paintings. This king also

stands with his weight on his right leg and tram

ples the head of a red jaki crouching beneath him.

This one-horned jaki rests itself on its elbows and

grabs the right shoe of the Deva King with both

hands in a manner emphasizing the fact that it is

hardly able to bear the king's weight. Another

jaki, also with a single horn, stands to the left

behind the king and holds with both hands a spear

that has a flag attached to the end.



Fig. 6. Z?ch?-ten. Ink and polychrome on silk. K?fuku-ji, Nara.

Fig. 7. Jikoku-ten. Ink and polychrome on silk. K?fuku-ji, Nara.

The figure in painting no. 3 (Fig. 4) differs most

noticeably from that in no. 2 in that he faces to the

front left and stands with his weight on his left

leg. He bends his right arm and holds a sword in

front of his chest; however, because of damage to

the picture the exact manner in which he is hold

ing the sword is impossible to determine. The

sword, which angles downward to the left, bi

sects the figure's stomach. His left arm is pendant, the palm open and all five fingers spread out; the

entire figure appears as if it is about to thrust the

blade of the sword forward. On his head this king wears a large elaborate helmet with a flaring edge

(fuki-kaeshiq). His angry expression is the most

ferocious of the four, and his face is covered with a

full beard. His eyebrows are knit, and his wide

open eyes glare fiercely at something in front of

him (there is some retouching in this area). His

expression is so intense that it seems as if one

could almost hear an angry yell coming from the

open mouth. The blue jaki trampled underfoot

extends its right hand forward and appears to be

flattened on the ground, its left arm bent at the

elbow, the hand in a fist, apparently trying to raise

the left foot of the Deva King. The brown jaki standing beneath the king's right hand holds a

long spear planted perpendicular to the ground

plane. Because the silk along the edges of the

painting was trimmed in later times, it is impos sible to see both hands of this jaki or the right hand of the jaki being trampled.

Deva Kings nos. 2 and 3 immediately call to

mind the life-size paintings of the two Deva Kings in the collection of K?fuku-ji, Nara (Figs. 6-7).

The king in these paintings who holds a sword in

his right hand and who touches the blade of the sword with his left hand (Fig. 6) corresponds in

posture to no. 2 of the Boston paintings. More

over, the garments of this figure are remarkably similar to those in the Boston painting, and the

11



Fig. 8. Jikoku-ten. Detail from Hoss? Mandara. Ink and

polychrome on silk. Infrared photograph. Museum of Fine

Arts, Boston.

Fig. 9. Z?ch?-ten. Detail from Hoss? Mandara. Infrared

photograph. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

long spear with the flag attached to the end (in the

K?fuku-ji painting the spear is two-pronged) and

the position of the jaki holding it are analogous as

well. Although there are differences in the gar

ments, in the hand gestures, and in the attitudes of

the bodies between no. 3 of the Boston paintings and the other painting at K?fuku-ji (Fig. 7), in

both works the kings hold swords that point downward.

When one investigates the traditional identifi

cations of the two paintings from K?fuku-ji, the

Nihon kokuh? zensh? says, "according to temple tradition these paintings are of Jikoku-ten and

Z?ch?-ten"; and the commentary indicates that

the painting similar to no. 2 of the Boston paint

ings is Jikoku while the other is Z?ch?.5 More

recently, the eminent historian of Japanese Bud

dhist art, the late Kameda Tsutomu, worked on

12

the two K?fuku-ji paintings and commented,

"The appellations Jikoku-ten and Z?ch?-ten are

in fact not certain ... as one often sees in icono

graphie scrolls that are copies based on T'ang

originals, the names of the deities are not recorded

and the attributes are not fixed, therefore it is im

possible to be absolutely certain of the identity of

almost any of them."6 He thus demonstrates the

difficulty in determining the identities of the de

ities in the Boston paintings. Consequently, I

wish to pursue my own line of inquiry into this

problem a little further.

The Hoss? Mandara ,r which also belongs to the

Boston Museum and which dates to the early Kamakura period, is a work based on T'ang Eso

teric Buddhist models and has the Four Deva

Kings depicted in the corners (Figs. 8-9). Two of

these kings are shown grasping swords, one with



the tip of the sword angling downward and one

with the tip angling upward, similar to figures nos. 2 and 3 of the Boston paintings. Moreover,

the king in the left-hand corner, when facing the

m?ndala, looks off to the left just as does the king in painting no. 3. In the Hoss? Mandara, however,

all four of the kings have been included, and con

sequently it is possible to determine the identity of

each of the kings from their relative positions in

the painting. By following the standard order of

placement of Deva Kings in Buddhist paintings, the king in the lower right corner, whose attitude

corresponds to that of no. 2, can be thought to be

Jikoku-ten and the one in the lower left corner,

Z?ch?-ten. Numbers 2 and 3 of the Boston paint

ings face each other in the same complementary manner as do the corresponding deities on the

Hoss? Mandara. Because the Boston figures are so

similar to those in the Hoss? Mandara it would

appear that there is no room for disagreement over their identities; consequently no. 2 of the

Boston paintings should be Jikoku, and no. 3,

Z?ch?. This conclusion would seem to be all the

more true because at the present there are no

known paintings, other than this Hoss? Mandara,

that show two Deva Kings grasping swords in a

manner similar to that in the Boston paintings. In fact such a conclusion cannot be made. A

king holding a sword at hip level with the tip

angling upward, and thus similar in form to no. 2

of the Boston paintings, is included as an atten

dant in the western section of the Esoteric icono

graphie handscroll drawn in the style of K?kais

(774-835), known as the Ninn?-gy? goh? shoson

z?l with the inscription "K?moku-ten, attendant

of the western direction" written beside it. (There are two versions of the scroll, now mounted as a

set of hanging scrolls, one in the collection of

Daigo-ji and one in the collection of T?-ji.) More

over, the deity of the "west" in the paintings of

the Sixteen Gods, Protectors of the P?ramit? (dated

corresponding to 1163, private collection) holds a

sword pointing in a similar direction to that held

by no. 2 of the Boston paintings, and thus it is

possible to conclude that this figure was meant to

be K?moku as well (Fig. 10). As I have already

mentioned, however, K?moku-ten in the Boston

"I

Fig. io. K?moku-ten. Detail from the Sixteen Gods,

Protectors of the Paramita. Ink on paper. Private collection,

Tokyo.

paintings holds a brush and a sheet of paper, so

no. 2 of the Boston set cannot be identified as

K?moku-ten.

There are also figures similar to no. 2 of the

Boston paintings that can be identified as Z?ch?

ten. For example, the Deva King in the lower

proper right of the painting of the Bodhisattva Fu

gen Enmei with the Four Deva Kings in the collec

tion of the Museum of Fine Arts (datable to the

mid-twelfth century), can be identified as Z?ch?

ten (Fig. n). The king resembling no. 2 among

the small representations of the Four Deva Kings drawn at the lower edge of the Amida Crossing the

Mountains in the collection of Zenrin-ji, Kyoto, which dates to the first half of the thirteenth cen

tury, is Z?ch?-ten as well.

The above discussion clearly indicates that a

13



Fig. 11. Z?ch?-ten. Detail from the BodhisatWa Fugen Enmei

with the Four Deva Kings. Ink and polychrome on silk.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

king who holds a sword in his right hand angling upward can at times be identified as Jikoku,

Z?ch?, or K?moku. Therefore, in order to deter

mine which of the three possibilities is correct in

each painting where such a figure appears, one

must rely upon a general understanding of the

iconographie characteristics of the Four Deva

Kings and their placement at the time the painting was executed, since the textual sources on the

matter are unclear. The question of the identity of

paintings nos. 2 and 3 of the Boston set must be

reexamined from this perspective. As I have mentioned before, nos. 2 and 3 of the

Boston set face each other in a complementary manner. Although facing in the same direction,

the paintings of K?moku-ten and Tamon-ten

from the Boston set complement each other as

H

well. When one looks at the bend of the body of

K?moku and the direction of the flames that sur

round him, one notices that they work in con

sonance with similar details on the painting of

Tamon-ten. The heads of the jaki that are being

trampled both face inward, and this helps to cre

ate a unified composition. Therefore, it can be

concluded that if these four deities had been meant

to be arranged in the usual manner, in the four

corners of a painting, then their attitudes and

positions would be similar to the representations of the Four Deva Kings in the previously men

tioned Hoss? Mandara or in the painting of the

Bodhisattva Fugen Enmei, with two pairs of fig ures facing each other. If these four paintings were

originally mounted on a fixed partition, however,

they would most likely have been arranged hori

zontally. This would necessarily have affected the

placement of the individual deities in relation to

one another.

Tamon, who holds a long spear in his left hand,

would naturally have been placed to the far right of such a horizontal arrangement, with the com

plementary K?moku to his immediate right. If

painting no. 2 came next and finally at the far left

no. 3, a king who is attended by a jaki holding a

spear to his right and who tramples another jaki that faces left, then the four paintings would be

arranged in a complementary manner. The place ment of the deities with the long spears at the two

ends would effectively complete the entire com

position. Moreover, the fact that the paintings were meant to be arranged horizontally?a mat

ter that I will discuss in greater detail later?bears

heavily on the possibility that these Four Deva

Kings were originally on the back of the fixed

partition behind the main statue of the Buddha. If

this is indeed the case, then I believe that no. 3 of

the Boston paintings must be Jikoku-ten and no. 2

must be Z?ch?-ten. The fact that Jikoku-ten, the

Deva who is the protector of the east, would be

placed to the far left has its own inherent logic, which I will explain later.

ICONOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

Very few complete sets of paintings of the Deva

Kings remain today. One example is the set of



small painted wooden plaques depicting these de

ities from a container for a sacred jewel (h?juu) in

the collection of Ninna-ji, Kyoto, which dates to

the early ioth century .7 There are, however, quite a few m?ndalas and paintings of independent de

ities that include representations of the Four Deva

Kings,8 and there are also a considerable number

of iconographie drawings of the Four Kings.

Moreover, sculpture cannot be ignored when

considering problems of the iconography of the

Four Deva Kings. In order to make any observa

tions concerning the iconography of the paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the collection of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, one must survey

all the types of objects depicting Deva Kings. As I mentioned in the discussion of the identi

ties of the kings, it appears that the paintings of

Jikoku and of Z?ch? from the Boston set were

stylistically based on T'ang iconographie models.

In contrast, K?moku, who is shown holding a

brush and a sheet of paper (usually he holds only a

rolled scroll) and Tamon, who is shown holding a

small pagoda in his right hand instead of his left, in which he holds a spear, are depicted in more

traditional forms. During the Asuka (552-645) and Nara (645-784) periods these two Deva

Kings were usually shown holding similar objects. The best known examples include the wood stat

ues from the main hall at H?ry?-ji, which date to

about 650; the clay statues from the Kaidan-in at

T?dai-ji, which were sculpted during the mid

eighth century; the dry-lacquer statues from the

Hokke-d? at the same temple and of the same

date; and the wood with dry-lacquer statues from

the main hall at T?sh?dai-ji, which date to about

770. All these statues can be considered to belong to the so-called exoteric style, the modes of sculp ture that reflected standard Mah?y?na Buddhist

doctrines.

No examples of K?moku-ten holding a brush

remain from the early part of the Heian period, a

time when this king is usually shown holding a

spear and a noose. This iconographie change ap

pears to be related to the transmission of the de

veloped Esoteric Buddhist doctrines (junmitsuv) to Japan at the start of the Heian period by figures such as K?kai and Enninw (794-864). These doc

trines stressed complicated rituals and secret

transmission of religious practice from master to

disciple. One of the primary textual sources for

this change can be thought to be the Esoteric sutra

called the Daranijikky?.x The Deva kings shown

in the Zuz?-sh?J a Heian period compilation of

iconographie drawings, follow this text. Al

though the forty-seventh chapter of the Besson

zakki,z an Esoteric iconographie manual, includes

drawings said to be based on the Darani jikky?, Tamon-ten is in fact shown holding a small pa

goda in his left hand with an inscription next to it

that reads, "the attributes of Tamon are different

right and left."9 In fact, most representations of

Tamon-ten from the Heian period usually show

the deity holding the small pagoda in his left hand. Even though all known early Heian representa

tions of Tamon are in the new Esoteric mode, it is

possible to find a few examples of statues of

K?moku-ten that date from the mid or late Heian

period in which this king is shown holding a

brush after the earlier exoteric mode. Some of the

better known examples of these include the stat

ues from Kanzeon-ji in Fukuoka prefecture, T?

raku-ji in Hy?g? prefecture, and Reisen-ji in

Shiga prefecture. The statues of Tamon-ten from

sets such as these usually hold the small pagoda in

their left hands; however, there are examples, like

the statue from Kanzeon-ji, where Tamon holds

the pagoda in his right hand in the pre-Heian manner. In the Kamakura period, statues of K?

moku-ten and Tamon-ten in the exoteric style once again became popular, the result of a move

ment to revive earlier styles of sculpture. Repre sentative statues from this group include the statue

by the famous sculptor Kaikeiaa (active ca. 1185

1220), at Kong?bu-ji in Wakayama prefecture, as

well as those from Kong?rin-ji in Shiga prefec

ture, dated in accordance with 1212, and from

Enj?-ji in Nara prefecture (1217). Some of the

most notable paintings documenting this new

trend are those on the shrine box of Kichij?-tena^ in the collection of Tokyo University of Fine

Arts, dated corresponding to about 1212.

This revival of the more orthodox exoteric

style is related to the paintings of K?moku-ten

and of Tamon-ten from the set in the Museum of

15



Fine Arts, Boston. In the case of Tamon, how

ever, the attributes of a pagoda and a spear differ

from the usual attributes of Tamon, and it is im

portant to note that in this painting the artist also

included elements from Esoteric T'ang proto

types. As far as representations of the Four Deva

Kings in the T'ang style are concerned, besides

the four Kings seen in the previously mentioned

Hoss? Mandara there are three examples of icono

graphie drawings done in simple ink lines on

paper (hakuby?ac). The first is found in the fourth scroll of the five-scroll Ninn?-gy? h? hozon z? said

to be by K?kai, which I mentioned earlier. Each

of the kings in this painting is shown with a differ

ent number of attendants, Jikoku with five, Z?

ch? with two, K?moku with six, and Tamon

with six.

The second example is a set of four drawings of

the Four Deva Kings from a set once owned by Gensh?ad that was originally in the collection of

K?zan-ji in Kyoto, but that is now owned by the

Goto Museum of Art, Tokyo. On the back of

each of the drawings is written, "copied from the

second version handed down at Shitenn?-ji by Kawanariae from the country of Silla." Kawanari

(782-853) is a famous painter of the early Heian

period of Paekche heritage who received the he

reditary title "Kudara (Paekche) no Ason"af in

840. Consequently, the mention of the country of

Silla in the inscription on the paintings must be an

error, and the fact that they were recorded as be

ing copies of an original that was supposed to be

by Kawanari and transmitted at Shitenn?-ji means nothing. The kings in these drawings are

all very majestic, each seated on a single jaki with

one leg pendant, and each with attendants hold

ing flags and other attributes (three kings have

three attendants and one king has only two atten

dants). The third example is the iconographie

drawing of the Four Deva Kings with attendants

from the forty-seventh chapter of the Besson

zakki. In this drawing the king to the east is

shown with one attendant, the king to the south

with two, and the king to the north with three.10

Infrared photographs reveal that a seated Bud

dha was drawn inside the pagoda held up by Tamon-ten in the Boston painting (Fig. 12). This

16

Fig. 12. Pagoda with Buddha inside. Detail of Figure i.

Infrared photograph. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

small Buddha has a mandorla drawn around both

head and body, and it is also possible to recognize lines meant to represent radiating light drawn in

ink around the mandorla. Similar examples from

the Heian period include the pagoda held by the Tamon-ten in the Taizokaia? of the Takao Man

dara^1 in the collection of Jingo-ji, Kyoto (datable to 827-833). It is in the shape of an Esoteric pa

goda (tah?-toai), as are the pagodas held by Bi

shamon-tenaJ (the same deity as Tamon-ten) from the sets of seated representations of the J?ni tenak in the collections of Saidai-ji and T?-ji (for

mer mid-ninth century, latter early twelfth cen

tury) . A small seated Buddha can be seen inside a

pagoda held by one of the kings shown in the

previously mentioned Besson zakki (Fig. 13), and

it is also worth noting that the shape of this pa

goda is remarkably similar to that in the Boston

painting. Although the shape of the pagoda is

different, a representation of the Buddha can be

found in the pagoda held by Bishamon-ten in the



Fig. 13. Tamon-ten. Besson zakki. Ink on paper.

late Kamakura period J?ni-ten by?bu^ in the col

lection of K?ry?-ji, Kyoto. Other paintings de

pict Tamon holding a pagoda that contains repre

sentations of two Buddhas seated on a single ped estal (Raig?-ji, Jingo-ji J?ni-ten by?bu) or a pre cious jewel (T?-ji J?ni-ten by?bu, paintings from

the Kichij?-ten zushi, and the Bishamon-ten also in

the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Bos

ton). From these examples we know that this

mode of depiction was popular throughout the

latter part of the Heian period. The spear held by the Tamon-ten in the Boston

paintings is also unusual. Most often Tamon

ten's spear is single-pronged or triple-pronged, but in this painting it is two-pronged. A spear similar to this, held by one of the attendants of the

deity of the north, Bishamon-ten, is found in a

Kamakura period copy of an iconographie draw

ing brought back to Japan by K?kai, the Shish?

goma honzon oyobi kenzoku zuz?*m in the collec

tion of Daigo-ji. The spears held by Bishamon

ten and Gy?d? Tenn?an in paintings from Tun

huang are two-pronged as well, and the inverted

trapezoid flag-like decoration with pendant rib

bons attached to the head of the spear in the Bos

ton paintings can also be found in these paintings from Tun-huang.11 Because of similarities be

tween the Boston painting and paintings such as

these, it is possible to conclude that at least the

spear in the Boston painting of Tamon-ten was

ultimately based on T'ang sources. Thejaki to the

side of K?moku-ten in the painting from K?fuku

ji holds a two-pronged spear similar to that held

by Tamon-ten in the Boston set, but no other

Japanese examples of Tamon-ten that include this

detail have yet been discovered. Other T'ang ele

ments that can be found in the details of the gar ments of the kings, such as the Iranian style

winged decorations on the crowns, are in a

painting of Tobatsu Bishamon-tenao from Tun

huang.12

Although the K?moku and the Tamon of the

Boston paintings are based on early iconographie

drawings in an exoteric style, their attributes in

corporate new T'ang elements according to the

personal dictates of the artist's creativity. Their

combination with the two other kings, which are

based entirely on Esoteric iconographie drawings in a T'ang lineage, makes these four a unique and

important set of paintings of the Four Deva

Kings. The colors of the bodies of the kings in the

Boston paintings differ from the body colors de

scribed in the Darani jikky? and other sutras as

well. Jikoku is red and the other three are flesh

colored. Thus it is possible to conclude that the

artist took great liberties with the standard icono

graphie texts when he executed these paintings. One further distinctive element of the Boston

paintings are thejaki at the sides of each king. The

spear with the flag attached to the end held by the

jaki that stands at the left and behind Z?ch? is reminiscent of the spear held by one of the atten

dants to one of the kings in the paintings said to be

by Kawanari. Moreover, the jaki that is being

trampled by Tamon-ten is close in form to one of

thejaki in attendance to the Tamon-ten found in

the previously mentioned section of the Besson

zakki. In the K?fuku-ji painting of Z?ch? there is

only one jaki (not at all similar to thejaki in the

17



Boston paintings). However, in contrast, in the

K?fuku-ji painting of Jikoku, besides the usual

jaki underfoot, there is also a jaki in attendance.

This jaki is in a posture similar to that of the jaki

holding the arrow and crouching to the side of

Tamon-ten in the Boston set. The K?fuku-ji

paintings are iconographically close to the Boston

paintings but the details are not consistent. Ele

ments that should be included in a painting of

Tamon-ten, such as the forked spear or the jaki

holding an arrow, are included in a painting of

Jikoku instead.

The final formal characteristic of the Boston

paintings that I would like to discuss is the rough sea drawn around the rocks on which the kings stand. Many examples of paintings of Fud?

My??aP from the late Heian period and after in

clude similar waves, for example the paintings at

Ruri-ji in Hy?go prefecture; Dairin-in in Shiga

prefecture; and the painting by Shinkai (d. 1282) at Daigo-ji or the paintings by Takuma Ch?gaacl

(active ca. 1275) of Fud?'s two attendants in the

Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C. Other than

these paintings, the set of the J?ni-ten formerly in

the collection of Sh?ren-in in Kyoto (late Kama

kura period) also include the rough sea, so it

seems legitimate to view the Boston paintings as

belonging to this lineage. By including the waves

whipped up by the wind, the artist was able to

increase the dynamism and the majesty of the

kings.

EXPRESSION AND TECHNIQUE

Each king has been placed in the center of a rec

tangular picture plane, and an attending jaki has

been included at the side of each, at either the front

or the back. The roiling waves washing around

the rocks have been drawn into almost half of the

picture plane, thus producing a composition with

a sense of spatial depth that cannot be found in the

paintings of the two Deva Kings at K?fuku-ji. The large gentle undulating curves of the high waves moving from left to right included in each

of the pictures order the movement of the sea.

Each of the kings is drawn in a majestic stance,

placing his weight on one of his legs and pushing his stomach forward. The scarves, the wide

18

Fig. 14. Z?ch?-ten. Detail ofjuntei Kannon.

Ink and polychrome on silk. Infrared photo

graph. Tokyo National Museum.

sleeves, and the edges of the hems of the different

layers of garments are skillfully depicted to look

as if they were being blown by the breeze. The

painting of Jikoku from K?fuku-ji (see Fig. 7), which resembles the painting of Z?ch?-ten from

the Boston Museum set, is stockier and is drawn

in a more ponderous manner than the Boston

work down to even the minor details. It is remi

niscent of the Four Deva Kings depicted in the

four corners of a painting of Juntei Kannon in the

collection of the Tokyo National Museum (Fig.

14), or the Bishamon-ten in the J?ni-ten by?bu in

the collection of Sh?ju Raig?-ji, Shiga prefecture

(Fig. 15), works that date from the late Heian

period. Consequently, it is possible to conclude

that the K?fuku-ji painting has inherited conven

tional Heian period formal elements. In contrast,



Fig. 15. Bishamon-ten.

One of the J?ni-ten. Ink and polychrome on silk.

Sh?ju Raig?-ji, Otsu.

Fig. 16. Bishamon-ten.

One of the J?ni-ten. Ink and polychrome on silk.

T?-ji, Kyoto.

15

the body of Z?ch?-ten in the Boston set is slim

mer and more fluid, which brings more balance to

the painting itself, and which indicates that the

work incorporates much of the style of Buddhist

paintings of the Kamakura period. When one looks at the faces of the kings in the

Boston paintings?especially the face of Tamon

ten, which is in relatively good condition?one

immediately notices that these faces are not long and narrow like the face of the Bishamon-ten in

the J?ni-ten by?bu from T?-ji (Fig. 16), which

I?

dates from the early Kamakura period. Rather,

they are full and round, extremely close in form to

the faces of the Four Deva Kings in the above

mentioned painting of Juntei Kannon or the face

of the Bishamon-ten in the painting from Sh?ju

Raig?-ji, an indication that they are in the style of

the Heian period. The combining of Heian period

stylistic traits with new stylistic traits of the

Kamakura period in an extremely sophisticated and skillful manner is another important charac

teristic of the Boston paintings. The rough sea,

19



which is often found in Kamakura period Bud

dhist paintings, causes the figures of the kings and

their attendants to stand out conspicuously from

their surroundings, and also must be recognized as a new stylistic trait well suited to the age.

The artist of the Boston paintings did not fol

low the usual order of underdrawing, coloring, and final line-drawing (kaki okoshiar) in creating

his works. Instead, the ink lines of the under

drawing perform the function of the final lines,

and the color was added to bring these lines alive.

As a result, in a number of places the color was

applied from the back of the silk in the urazai

shikias technique. In fact, where the urazaishiki

technique was used the color remains the most

clearly. After the color was applied, the motifs on

the complicated garments were drawn in with

great care and detail. Finally, in a few places, most

noticeably on the faces, the artist added final line

drawing to complete the paintings. Because the

paintings were originally mounted on fixed parti

tions, white urazaishiki was applied over the en

tire back surface, which brightened the picture surface. This is a major technical innovation of

these works.

The line quality in the paintings is generally fine

and soft. However, in the drawing of the robes

and of the jaki the artist used a number of tech

niques including varying the thickness of the line

(yokuy?at), forceful beginnings to his strokes

(uchikomiau), and drawing with sharp corners

(kussetsuav). According to what area he was

painting, he freely changed his type of line. When

doing the actual painting the artist held his brush

in two different ways, perpendicular to the pic ture plane and at a slight angle. The drawing itself

is precise and the complicated compositions are

full of movement. The precedent for this kind of

varied brush technique can be found in xht J?ni-ten

by?bu from T?-ji. The T?b?-kizw records that

these paintings were done by Takuma Sh?gaax

(active 1169-1209?) in 1191, using new techniques. These paintings, which date to the very beginning of the Kamakura period, hold great importance for the history of Buddhist painting in Japan. In

them the artist freely used uchikomi and kussetsu

lines to represent the movement of the drapery;

20

however, he had not fully digested the new Sung

techniques. That Sh?ga had not really mastered

Sung painting techniques is borne out by a com

parison of the T?-ji paintings with the paintings of the Four Deva Kings drawn on the outside of a

box meant to cover a reliquary pagoda with an

inscription of 1013, recently discovered at the

pagoda at Jui-kuang-ssu in Suchou.13 In the Chi

nese paintings the line is more fluid and the figures have been given a greater sense of movement and

three-dimensionality. The drawing of the Boston

paintings reveals that the new brush techniques first seen in the T?-ji paintings have been fully harmonized with the more traditional brushwork

of the preceding generation, a point that must be

considered a second major technical characteristic

of these paintings. This enforces the hypothesis that the Boston paintings date to the mid-Kama

kura period. The faces of the paintings of Tamon-ten and of

K?moku-ten remain in comparatively good con

dition; the color on the face of K?moku is almost

as fresh as when the painting was executed. On

each of the faces the artist used fluid ink lines and

precisely grasped the expression of each deity by

adding accents each time he began a stroke. The

faces of the kings other than Jikoku-ten, whose

face is deep red, have been colored by applying a

light red to the surface of the silk after having

thickly painted white onto the back of the cloth.

This painstaking and intricate technique allowed

the artist to evoke the soft feeling of skin. The

artist drew in the details of the faces on each of the

kings only after the coloring was completed. The artist also added lines in dry ink ( j?bokuay)

at the inner corners and the upper lids of the angry

bulging eyes. Although this is a standard tech

nique, there are unique elements in the manner in

which this particular artist drew the eyes. For ex

ample, when one examines the left eye of Tamon

ten (the right is damaged and cannot be clearly

seen), although the inclusion of cinnabar at the

inner and outer corners is not all that inventive,

the addition of light brown shading on the inner

edges of the large white eyeball seems to have

been intended to make this detail appear more

three-dimensional. The use of such shading can



not be found on the Bishamon-ten in the J?ni-ten

by?bu at T?-ji; the famous painting of Bishamon

ten in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston; or on other earlier Heian period Buddhist

paintings. A similar use of shading can be seen in

the eyes of the other three kings. On all four, the

pupils have been drawn in black on a brown

ground and are edged with a gold line, causing the

eyes to appear as if they were shining. As with the

use of shading discussed above, this technique cannot be found on earlier paintings.

Such realism in the depiction of the figures can

also be found in the treatment of the eyebrows,

hair, and beards. Although formally these details

are different on each king, each area is drawn ex

tremely skillfully by overlaying fine lines of ink.

For example, when one compares the eyebrows and beard of the Tamon-ten of the Boston set

with corresponding areas on the painting of Bish

amon-ten also in the collection of the Museum of

Fine Arts, although the latter is done with fine

brush strokes, the former is less formalized and

painted more carefully. This kind of exacting

drawing can also be seen in the treatment of the

sideburns of Tamon-ten and of K?moku-ten.

The crowns and helmets on the heads of the

four kings, just like the armor and gauntlets, have

all been colored by applying gold leaf to the back of the silk (urahaku). A fine white line has been added on the inside of the black lines used to draw

the details of the crowns, giving the drawing an

especially rhythmical feeling. In contrast, on the

helmets are refined wing-shaped decorations by the ears that have been colored blue and green in

the ungenaz technique, which requires the paint

ing of a number of bands of two contrasting hues

in graduated tones. Although the flaking in these

areas is severe, the bright colors shine in the deep

gold of the helmet, creating a very luxurious im

pression. Moreover, on K?moku-ten, the lock of

hair over the forehead, the sideburns, the high

topknot, and his hair that is blowing in the breeze

have all been represented by thick lines in mala

chite green.

The colors of the garments of each of the kings are varied, and the artist seems to have had a great interest in decorative motifs. He avoided repeat

ing any of his motifs throughout the paintings, and some of those that he chose are uncommon

for the age. Of the four paintings, that of K?

moku-ten has been done with the brightest col

ors, and since this painting is in the best state of

preservation I wish to examine its coloration first.

The circular pieces of the breastplate are con

structed in two layers, and along the curved edges of both the artist has added a tooth-shaped motif

in pale green malachite (byakurokuba) and darker

green. This area on the other three kings is col

ored in a somewhat similar fashion; however, on

the painting of Jikoku, the tooth-shaped pattern

has been replaced by a motif of radial lines. The

buckles of K?moku's breastplate, like those on

Tamon-ten's, are red with circular motifs. On all

the paintings the buckles have been backed with

gold leaf, and where cinnabar has been added

from the front the circular motifs have been done

in the so-called kakikeshibb technique. In this ex

acting technique the ground is painted with bya kuroku or other pigments, leaving the area that

forms the motif unpainted so that the underlying color shows through.

The use of the kakikeshi technique can be found

in many other areas of the paintings and is one of

the most characteristic methods of coloration used

in these works. The plates of armor over the

thighs have been given a distinctive pattern, and

the lower edge is decorated with interlocked gold swastikas that shine on the light green ground. At

first glance this motif appears to be kirikane,bc

thin sheets of cut gold leaf applied to the surface,

but since it is possible to see that the gold leaf is

beneath the mineral white, it is evident that it is

the kakikeshi technique that was used. Kirikane

was used, however, to create the fine "lightning bolt" motif on the upper right chest. The artist

was equally at home with either the kakikeshi or

the kirikane techniques and displayed his consum

mate skill in the differences in expression and va

rieties of techniques that he used on the paintings. The exact ornamentation at the left side of the

stomach cannot be readily determined because of

the losses to the surface; however, it is possible to

tell that this area was originally decorated with

bright colors. In the center of the stomach circular

21



Fig. 17. Brush and inkstone. Detail of Figure 2. Infrared

photograph. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Fig. 18. Scribe with Brush. Detail of Subh?karasimha at the

Kaniska St?pa, Fig. 21. Infrared photograph.

cakras (rimp?bd) in kirikane have been aligned

vertically on the cinnabar ground, and they are

entwined with a motif of blue clouds. Along the

broad edges are floral motifs done in blue and

green ungen on a white ground, while gold paint has been carefully added to the open areas. The

green eyes of the demon masks on the decorative

boss of the belt (obikui) glare out at the viewer,

and the face with its sharp white tusks has a some

what humorous expression, another indication of

the artist's inventiveness.

22

K?moku's broad sleeves, which billow out to

the right and to the left of his torso, are painted

bright red, and finishing lines of gold paint have

been added along the folds of the garment. On the

sleeves there are motifs in gold paint that at first

glance appear to be peonies, but that in fact are

demon faces, each different and each freely

painted. Most noteworthy is that where there are

folds in the garment, the artist changed the shapes of these motifs to correspond with the curves of

the cloth in a realistic manner, thus heightening the illusion of movement in the sleeves. Between

these demon faces the artist placed a motif of three

pronged vajras. The skirt is the same color as the

sleeves and is covered with a similar demon-face

motif executed in gold paint over a luxurious,

abstract multicolored ground. Only K?moku-ten

wears boots, and these are darkened because of

the oxidation of their original silver paint. Along the upper edge, alternating gold and silver peo

nies have been arranged on a cinnabar ground, and between them leaves have been carefully added in green in an extremely effective and

painterly fashion.

The face of the red jaki that K?moku is tram

pling has been repainted between the hair line and

the nose. The skin of this jaki has been done in

cinnabar urazaishiki, and the same color has been

painted thinly onto the surface of the silk as well,

except where the figure's muscles are tensed. The

jaki that stands beneath the right arm of the king

grasps an inkstone with both hands; however, the

damage to the silk is especially severe in this area,

and consequently the details cannot be read with

the naked eye. From infrared photographs, how

ever, it is possible to tell that the inkstone is circu

lar, and that the wooden base of the inkstone

(which has been done in the urahaku technique) includes a brushstand that holds a brush and ink

stick (Fig. 17). This is reminiscent of the section in

the painting of Subh?karasimha at the Kaniska St?pa

(see Fig. 21) in the collection of the Fujita Mu

seum. In this painting a scribe is shown grasping a

brush and dipping it into an inkstone on a base

that has a similar brush holder (Fig. 18).14 The

inkstone in the painting of K?moku-ten must

have originally appeared much like this one. The



color of the body of the jaki holding the inkstone is a darkened green with the body hair done in

gold paint. The orange garment that the jaki is

wearing just barely sticks out from beneath the

armor on its chest, and its red belt provides a

colorful contrast to its dark torso. On its back is a

cloak made from an animal pelt with the head and

feet still attached.

In the painting of Tamon-ten, the garments are

unified by much more subdued color tones than

are those of K?moku-ten. Red and orange can be

found only along the edges of the armor, on the

belt, or on the demon mask (obikui). The ferocity of this demon face contrasts with the dignity of

the face of the king. The sleeves, like the green

scarves, are badly damaged; however, motifs in

kirikane and gold paint remain here and there. On

the red ochre (bengarabe) ground of the sleeves it

appears that the artist drew motifs of rimp? and

three jewels on a lotiform base on clouds. The

skirt is the same color as the sleeves; however, the

motif has fallen off completely. The edge of the

skirt is dark blue, and on it a pattern of running water done in gold paint can barely be seen.

The brightly colored shoes contrast with the

tasteful garments described above and are gaudily colored. They were first painted orange and then

red, except for the peony motif in the center and

two bands above and below this motif. The artist

painted the heels a dark blue, and in the remaining areas of orange ground he added dots in gold

paint, completing the decoration in a very luxuri

ous manner. Moreover, he was able to skillfully

capture the soft feeling of shoes made of cloth.

Thejaki being trampled under Tamon's feet is

presently dark brown in color. Its hair is repre sented by white and black lines that are done

rather sketchily, a detail that is similar on all the

jaki. The brawny muscles of the red jaki next to

the king's right foot have been skillfully painted with modulated ink lines. Where the muscles are

tensed the artist has added white highlights, and

he has also added stiff hairs on the skin. The hair

on the jaki's head is done in red ochre, and after

the individual strands were drawn in fluid black

ink, lines were added in gold to create the impres sion that the jaki's hair was being blown by the

wind. The treatment of the burly form of this jaki has much more of the so-called Kamakura

strength when compared to thejaki in attendance

to the Jikoku from K?fuku-ji. Of the remaining two paintings of Jikoku and

Z?ch?, color remains only on the garments of

Z?ch?, who after K?moku-ten is the most

colorful of the four kings. The edges of the breast

plate, of the stomach armor, and of the plume on

the crown are all done in fresh mineral white. The

fin-shaped decorations on the sleeves consist of

dark blue lines added on a light blue ground and

are outlined in white. The inclusion of a white line

around the edges of this fin-shaped decoration can

be also found on the other two kings. These areas

have all been drawn in rhythmical curves to create

the impression of the delicate movement of cloth

blowing in the wind. The sleeves, orange in color

with red shading along the folds, are ornamented

with motifs done in gold paint. These motifs of a

mystical beast, a fictional combination of bird and

fish, have been drawn freely without a fixed

model, while the area in between has been filled

with fluidly drawn clouds. The skirt is the same

color as the sleeves. However, the decorative mo

tif is different; it appears to be a floral motif in blue

and green. A pattern of circles in mineral blue

(iwagunj?bf) has been added on the shoes.

The hair of the red jaki under the feet of Z?ch?

has been skillfully depicted as standing on end, in

lines of gold ink. The blue jaki has a tiger skin

around its hips as well as animal skins on its shins,

both of which are covered with lines of gold ink.

The flag attached to the blade of the three

pronged spear that this jaki holds has been given a

blue cloud pattern drawn on a red ground, while

the ribbons are decorated in blue ungen.

Jikoku's garments are similar to those of Ta

mon. The sleeves and skirt are done in refined

colors while reds are used only on the edges of the

helmet and on a part of the tunic. The overlying motif on the tunic is of green flowers and inter

connected blue leaves with vines added in be

tween them. Fine gold dots have been added to

the flowers and the leaves in a skilled and detailed

hand. The details along the edge of the armor over

the hips are of four interlocked sword blades in

23



blue on a subdued red ground. In the center of the

space created by the four sword blades are motifs

of cross-shaped vajra done in gold paint that have

become the basic element of the ornamentation.

On the inside of the mountain-shaped forms that

this motif creates, rimp? have been added in gold

paint. A motif made up of three-pronged vajras with ribbons attached has been added on the dark

brown ground of the wide sleeves and skirt.

Around each of these vajra a curling line has been

added in white in a skillful hand. The green jaki that is being trampled under Jikoku's feet has been

painted in a similar fashion to the dark brown jaki that stands to his side; the hair has been done in

gold ink just as on thejaki of the other paintings. The realistic treatment of details such as these

must be considered one of the most important characteristics of the paintings.

The rocks on which the kings stand are differ

ent in each painting, some flat on the top, others

slightly slanted. All are painted in a rough man

ner; thick brush strokes done with the brush held

at an angle have been used to depict the protru sions and depressions in the rocks. In places moss

has been added by the inclusion of green-blue and

white dots.

The artist of these paintings was able to create

powerful yet refined works of art by the use of

superb brush work and drawing, as well as by the

use of harmonizing colors and intricate and pre cise motifs. The brush work shows characteristics

of the mid Kamakura period, a time when a dis

tinct Kamakura style had begun to emerge from

the Sung styles that were adopted at the beginning of the twelfth century?the harmonization of

new Sung painting techniques with the more tra

ditional techniques of the Heian period. Conse

quently, the texture and movements of the gar ments are depicted especially skillfully. These

paintings do not show the stereotyped treatment

of line typical of paintings done in the latter part of

the thirteenth century, such as the paintings of the

two attendants of Fud? by Ch?ga in the collec

tion of the Freer Gallery; but rather it is freer and

livelier. Nevertheless, it is possible to find some

formularization in the depiction of the rough sea

in the Boston paintings (Fig. 19). This type of

24

Fig. 19. Wave. Detail of Figure 3. Infrared photograph. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

treatment of the waves marks a distinct break

with the more fluid depiction of the sea to be

found in the early Kamakura period painting of

Fud? with Two Attendants from Ruri-ji (Fig. 20), or

the painting of the Patriarchs of the Kegon Sect. This

means that the Boston paintings must date later

than these works. In light of these stylistic and

technical observations, it is possible to conclude

that these paintings of the Four Deva Kings date

to the middle of the Kamakura period.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE

PAINTINGS AND THE

ABANDONED TEMPLE EIKY?-JI

I would now like to take up my hypothesis that

the paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the Mu

seum of Fine Arts, Boston belong to a group of



Fig. 20. Wave. Detail o? Fud? and Two Attendants. Ink and

polychrome on silk. Ruri-ji, Hy?g? prefecture.

paintings that were originally mounted on a fixed

partition in the interior of the Shingon-d? at

Eiky?-ji. There are no records in the files of the

Museum detailing the provenance of these paint

ings. As I mentioned before, however, Fenollo

sa's note indicates that they were once at T?dai

ji, yet no records exist that tie the paintings to the

Shingon-d? at Eiky?-ji.15

Eiky?-ji was also known as Uchiyama-derabg and was located to the southwest of Isonokami

Shrine in present-day Tenri city. From documen

tary evidence it is known that the temple was

founded at the order of retired Emperor Tobabn

(1103-1156; r. 1107-1123) by a monk from K?

fuku-ji named Raijitsubl (1050-1142). According to two late Kamakura period records that contain

much information connected to the history of the

temple, the Uchiyama okibumf? and the Uchiyama no fei,kk the Shingon-d? was erected in the year

corresponding to 1136, the Tah?-t? the next

year, and finally the main hall the year after that.

These sources indicate that the temple compound

(garanbl) was rapidly laid out and halls constructed

in an orderly fashion between 1135 and 1141.

From that time on the temple flourished. Later

records indicate that the great warlord of the sec

ond half of the sixteenth century, Toyotomi

Hideyoshibm (1536/7-1598), gave a yearly stipend of 971 kokubn of rice for the maintenance of the

temple buildings and its 58 subtemples and monks'

quarters. Similar stipends were granted during the Edo period, at which time Eiky?-ji was a

large temple with an income rivaling the 1,000

koku granted H?ry?-ji. In the early Meiji peri od the temple was dismantled under the haibutsu

kishakubo policy, which banned integrated Shin

to-Buddhist institutions. Today, all that is left of

the temple's former glory is a part of a garden lake

with a small island in the center.

Although Eiky?-ji was founded by a monk from the Hoss?bP temple K?fuku-ji, the fact

that a building called the Shingon-d? was the

first erected indicates that the Shingon sect was

the most powerful at the temple. The person who

supervised the construction of the Shingon-d? was the Shingon monk Ry?e,bcl and from the

time that that structure was completed, the official

business of the temple was carried out by mem

bers of the Shingon sect. This was not all unusual,

for at that time in exoteric temples of the Hoss?

and other sects, exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism

often coexisted. Because of the widespread popu

larity of Esoteric Buddhism among members of

the court and upper classes, many exoteric tem

ples had special halls for Esoteric ceremonies that

were exclusive to the Shingon sect. The patrons of Eiky?-ji, too, seem to have responded to this

trend, for there were both exoteric and Esoteric

halls within the temple compound. The Shingon-d? was a large hall facing south,

seven bays deep. The Uchiyama no ki and the Uchi

yama okibumi, as well as another document detail

ing the history of the temple, the Wash? Uchiyama

Eiky?-ji no engi^T record that many paintings adorned the interior of the hall. All these paintings

were removed and dispersed when the temple was dismantled. Surprisingly, however, many of

the Heian period works among them remain to

day. Through my research I have been able to

25



Fig. 21. Subh?karasimha at the Kaniska St?pa. Ink and

polychrome on silk. Infrared photograph. Fujita Museum,

Osaka.

Fig. 22. Vajrabodhi. Detail from one of the Lives of the Eight

Shingon Patriarchs. Ink and polychrome on silk. Infrared

photograph. Private collection, Tokyo.

discover the present location of many of these

paintings; and since I have written about them on

previous occasions, I do not intend to analyze them

in detail here.16 For the following discussion con

cerning the provenance and authorship of the

Boston paintings, however, it is important to list

the paintings that were originally in the Shingon d? and their present locations.

M?ndalas of the Two Worlds, two scrolls; loca

tion unknown.

Subh?karasimha at the Kaniska St?pa (Fig. 21) and N?g?rjuna at the Iron Caitya, two panels; Fujita

Museum of Art, Osaka.

Eight Patriarchs of the Shingon Sect, eight paint

ings; Berlin Museum, destroyed during World

War II.

26

A Short Biography of the Eight Shingon Patriarchs,

eight scrolls; private collection, Tokyo (Fig. 22).

It is known that all these were painted in the

year corresponding to 1136. Moreover, accord

ing to the Uchiyama no ki and the Uchiyama oki

bumi, two types of paintings were added to the

interior of the Shingon-d? in 1253. The passages

concerning these paintings read as follows:

Shingon-d?, one hall: According to tradition

it was erected in Hoen 2 (1136) . . .on the fixed

partition behind the Buddha are [paintings of] the

Kanj?J?ni-ten,bs and on the back, [paintings of] the Four Deva Kings that were painted in the

ninth month of Kench? 5 by Ch?my? (Son renbt of the hokky?bu [rank]).17

Item: During the latter part of the ninth month



(mizunoto ushibv) of Kench? 5, the paintings of

the J?ni-ten and of the Four Deva Kings were

done by the busshibw Sonren. . . ,18

Item: Concerning the Shingon-d? . . . the

Four Deva Kings etc. on the fixed partition be

hind the Buddha, because the old ones were dam

aged, were painted by Sonren [of the rank of]

hokky?. . . .19

From these documents the following facts can

be ascertained. First, that on the front side of the

standing partition behind the statue of the Buddha

enshrined inside the hall were paintings of the

Twelve Devas that were used in the Buddhist

ceremony of baptismal initiation (abiseka), while

on the back of this same partition were paintings of the Four Deva Kings. These were painted in the

latter half of the ninth month of Kench? 5 (1253) by Sonrenb?bx Ch?my?. Second, that since

it is written about the paintings of the Four Deva

Kings, "because the old ones were damaged, these were painted by Sonren [of the rank of]

hokky?" it is possible to determine that the orig inal paintings of the Four Deva Kings had been

damaged, and were then repainted at this time.

The above two points lead to the conclusion

that if the paintings of the Four Deva Kings were

indeed painted on the back of the fixed partition behind the statue of the Buddha in the hall, then

they must have been arranged in a single horizon

tal row. Since the Shingon-d? faced south, the

fixed partition behind the statue would have faced

south as well, and consequently, the back side of

the partition on which the paintings of the Four

Deva Kings were executed would have faced

north. From these facts the following hypothesis can be made: because the left end of the back side

of the partition would be to the east, then when

the paintings of the Four Deva Kings were ar

ranged on this partition, Jikoku, the king who is

the guardian of the eastern quadrant, would pre

sumably have been placed at the far left edge. The above conclusion concerning the arrange

ment of the paintings of the Four Deva Kings in

the Shingon-d? at Eiky?-ji can be taken as a

basis for further consideration of the paintings of

the Four Deva Kings in the Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston. From an analysis of the nature of the

damage to the works we know that the Boston

works were originally painted on fixed partitions.

Moreover, from my analysis above it is also pos sible to determine that they were also originally

meant to be arranged with Jikoku-ten, the Guard

ian of the East, at the left-most edge, followed

by Z?ch?, K?moku, and Tamon. This agrees

exactly with my proposed arrangement for the

Boston paintings. Because of this correspondence, it is possible to conclude that in all likelihood the

Boston paintings are indeed the paintings of the

Four Deva Kings that were once affixed to the

back of the fixed partition in the Shingon-d?.

Stylistically these paintings can date to no later

than the mid-Kamakura period, and consequently there is no contradiction with the records that

state that the paintings of the Four Deva Kings in

the Shingon-d? were replaced in 1253.

I have already pointed out that formally the

Four Kings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

retain many elements of late Heian period Bud

dhist painting. This being the case, then the

phrase in the Uchiyama no ki stating that new

paintings were done because the old ones were

damaged becomes an important point of refer

ence. The words "old ones" quoted in the passage must refer to paintings of the Four Deva Kings

that were executed for the Shingon-d? when it

was first built. Although the Boston paintings are

clearly in the style of the Kamakura period, they retain many earlier formal elements that can be

explained only as a result of their having been

based on these earlier originals. Often paintings were repainted under similar conditions. The six

paintings on boards of Shinto gods in the collec

tion of Yakushi-ji were done in 1295 by the

Ebusshi Gy?gen.bY However, according to an

inscription found on the back of one of them, they were repainted at that time because the "partition

paintings" originally done in the Kanji era (1087

1094) had been damaged by insects.20 The reten

tion of archaic elements in these paintings, espe

cially in the treatment of the drapery, is a result of

the fact that they were painted based on originals

dating from an earlier time. The existence of simi

lar cases lends credence to my conjecture about

the Boston paintings. Such observations serve to

27



substantiate the documentary evidence concern

ing the date of execution and the conditions under

which these works were created.

Although no other known examples of paint

ings of the Four Deva Kings from a Shingon-d?

exist, the decoration on the interior of the

H?gy?-d?,bz a hall at Shikindai-ji in Naru

taki, Kyoto, where a memorial service was held

on the first day of the sixth month of Eiryaku 2

(1161), is somewhat comparable. From the

Ninna-ji shoin kakic* it is known that in this hall

were paintings of the Four Deva Kings, two kings on each painting, on the rear of partitions to the

left and right of the main image. The fronts of

these partitions were decorated with paintings of

the M?ndalas of the Two Worlds. Parallel to the

walls of the building were more fixed partitions covered with paintings of the Eight Shingon Pa

triarchs. On the partition behind the main image, a statue of Sonsh?,cb there were paintings of the

Godaison.cc21 The H?gy?-d? was a small

single-bay hall; however, it was used for Esoteric

rituals, as was the Shingon-d?. The presence of

paintings of the Four Deva Kings on the rear of

partitions decorated with the M?ndalas of the

Two Worlds is exceedingly interesting, for it

helps us to better understand the organization of

the paintings in the Shingon-d? at Eiky?-ji. That structure was originally built as a mantra

hall, and the large number of paintings that deco

rated its interior were well suited to its Esoteric

function. Depicting the J?ni-ten on the front

side of a partition behind a statue of a Buddha is

appropriate in a hall of this nature because of the

Esoteric character of the deities; however, the

presence of paintings of the Four Deva Kings on

the back of this same partition might appear

strange, because the Deva Kings are exoteric pro

tective deities. The previously mentioned exam

ple of paintings of the Four Deva Kings done on

the back of partitions with the M?ndalas of the

Two Worlds on the front in an Esoteric hall from

Shikindai-ji does provide us with evidence that

such iconographie arrangements were not entirely unknown. Consequently, the Shingon-d? at

Eiky?-ji in all likelihood can be thought a similar

case, and the Deva Kings can be seen to have

28

functioned as the protective gods of the hall from

the time of its creation.

In regard to this point it is worth recalling the

shape of the inkstone that thejaki in the painting of K?moku-ten is holding. The inkstone, with

its wooden base that includes a brushstand hold

ing a brush and ink stick, is similar in form to the

inkstone next to the scribe in the pair of paintings of Subhakarasimha at the Kaniska St?pa and N?

g?rjuna at the Iron Caitya that were originally in the

Shingon-d?. The fact that the inkstone in the

Kamakura period painting so closely resembles

the one in the earlier Heian period painting pro vides visual evidence that there must have been

paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the hall at the

time it was erected, and that the Boston paintings were based on those works.

I have already indicated that the iconography of

the paintings of Tamon and of K?moku from

the Boston set is of an exoteric style. These paint

ings can be assumed to have been based on earlier

versions; thus they suggest that there were paint

ings of the Four Deva Kings with a similar icon

ography in the Shingon-d? at Eiky?-ji at the

time that the hall was erected. When this point is

considered in conjunction with the fact that the

paintings of the other two kings are in an Esoteric

T'ang style, the conclusion can be reached that the

paintings of the Four Kings symbolized the dual

Esoteric and exoteric nature of Eiky?-ji. From

the various arguments above, then it is possible to

conclude that the Boston paintings are without a

doubt the partition paintings of the Four Deva

Kings that are recorded in the histories of Eiky?

ji as having been in the Shingon-d?; they may

indeed be those "lost" paintings that were painted in 1253 by the ebusshi Ch?my?.

THE ARTIST, THE EBUSSHI CH?MY?

Ch?my?'s artistic activities can be traced in

some detail and therefore I wish to go over his

biography in order to understand the context of

the Boston paintings. The ch?c<^ in his name is

written in some documents with the character for

morning, and in some instances he is mentioned

under the name of Sonrenb?. Ch?my? was a

disciple of the famous early Kamakura period



Fig. 23. Inscription on the base of Jiz?. Shunkaku-ji, Nara

prefecture.

painter Taifub? Sonchi.ce This fact is known

from an inscription on the base of a statue of the

Bodhisattva Jiz?c^ at Shunkaku-ji in modern

day Nara prefecture, dated in accordance with

1256, which reads: "Ch?my? Sonrenb? is a

disciple of Sonchi" (Fig. 23).22 The first mention of Ch?my? can be found

in the K?fuku-ji yurai ki.c& In this document it is

recorded that from the twentieth day of the elev

enth month of J?ei 1 (1232) until the seventeenth

day of the next month, the celebrated Nara period statues of the Eight Classes of Divine Protectors

of the Buddhist Faith and the statues of the Ten

Great Disciples of the Buddha at K?fuku-ji were

repaired by a group led by the great ebusshicb

Z?keici from the official painting workshop

(edokorocJ).23 Ch?my?'s name is included in

the list of those who participated in the project. Since his name was written last, Ch?my? was

most likely the youngest of the thirteen artists

involved. The fact that he participated in the res

toration of such prominent works, most likely by

helping with their repainting, provided him with

invaluable experience for his later work.

The next records date from the ninth month of

Kench? 5 (1253) and involve the production of

paintings of the Twelve Devas and of the Four

Deva Kings in the Shingon-d? at Eiky?-ji that

are the subject of this paper. From the inscription

previously mentioned, we know that three years

later, in 1256, he did the paintings on a cabinet

that was to contain the statue of the Bodhisattva

Jiz? at Shunkaku-ji along with Sonchi's disciple, Kaichick of the rank of taifu h?gen.cl (This statue

was originally in the Kedai-in in Higashi Oda

wara.) The inscription states that at the time Kai

chi "did the drawing in ink" while Ch?my? took care of the "coloring." In the third month of

Bun'ei 5 (1268), in a document found among the

dedicatory objects inside the wooden statue of

Sh?toku Taishicm in the Gokuraku-b?011 at

Gang?-ji in Nara, Ch?my?'s name appears

along with those of ten other people from the

edokoro who did the "coloring."24 The Chinju z?ei nikki,co quoted in the Uchiyama

no ki, mentions that in the seventh month of

Bun'ei 7 (1270), the "daibusshicP Sonrenb?

hokky? Ch?my?" and two busshi painted the

protective shrine at Eiky?-ji with cinnabar over

a nine-day period.25 The same record includes the

notation "salary?1 kanc9 and 500 mon"cr and

notations on the price of cinnabar (shushacs). Also

mentioned is the fact that Ch?my? was given the remaining seven ry?ct of cinnabar and that

he took it back to his residence in the "Southern

Capital." Thus we know that Ch?my? lived in

the Nara region. Since this record calls him a dai

busshi and mentions the fact that he was accom

panied by two busshi, it is clear that by this time

he headed a small group of Buddhist painters, ebusshi. When Ch?my? first received the

honorific title given to high-ranking artists of

hokky?, meaning Bridge of the Law, remains

unclear. However, from the entry in the Uchi

yama no ki we know that he held this title as early as 1253.

Ch?my?'s participation in the production of a

set of statues of Fud? and His Eight Great Pages

(Fig. 24), which were originally enshrined in the

Kannon-d? at Eiky?-ji in 1272, is known from a

dedicatory passage placed inside the statue of the

29



bhiksu Sh?j?,cu one of the attendant statues from

the group (Fig. 25).26 In this inscription his name

appears as "ebusshi Ch?my?, hokky? of the

sh?nincv rank" along side of the name of the

sculptor "daibusshi, h?gencw of the ?sh?cx rank,

K?en."cy Ch?my? most likely was responsible for painting these statues, which are now in the

possession of Setagayasan Kannon-ji in Tokyo.

They provide important additional information

about the type of painting actually done by

Ch?my?.27 Other documents relate that later, in the 12th

month of Einin 3 (1295), the painting of a me

dium-sized drum at T?dai-ji was entrusted to

hokky? Ch?my?.28 These documents also in

clude a number of requests from the daibusshi

Ry?y?cz and hokky? Sen'e,^a who were both

busshi from T?dai-ji, that Ch?my? supervise their task of coloring other works included in the

same project. Although the project was for T?

dai-ji, the fact that Ch?my? was put in charge instead of the ebusshi who worked for the temple is proof of just how highly Ch?my? was thought

of at the time. Although the date is unclear, ac

cording to the Uchiyama okibumi and the Uchiyama no ki, hokky? Sonren painted votive plaques

(emadb) for Eiky?-ji29 and touched up the paint

ings by Enshinb? Eijudc on the old cedar parti tions in the protective shrine of the temple. This

record goes on to say that of these, only the paint

ing of sumo wrestlers was returned untouched to

its original state.30

From the various passages quoted above, it is

possible to glimpse some of Ch?my?'s activi

ties in the Nara region during the sixty-odd years

from 1232 to 1295. Despite our considerable

knowledge of these activities, the works in the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are the only known

examples of his paintings. Yet the breadth of his

creativity, encompassing sculpture and decora

tive arts as well as painting, was common to

painters of the age. From the documentary evi

dence, it appears that Ch?my? took "color

ing" as his specialty. That the painting of the me

dium-sized drum was entrusted to him in 1295

means that not only had Ch?my? become a

famous painter by that time, but that he possessed

30

Special skills in diverse painting techniques. Only an artist with consummate technique as well as

great artistic originality could have done the varied

motifs on the Boston paintings. Since Ch?my? was one of the most skillful artists of his age, the

above analysis permits the conclusion that the

paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the Boston

Museum are technically suitable as works by

Ch?my?. Of the many other projects that Ch?my?

supervised, the statues of Fud? and His Eight Great Pages fortunately still remain today, and

therefore I wish to analyze them in some detail

since they provide us with a point of reference for

the Boston paintings. These statues were sculpted when K?en was 66 years of age. The main image of Fud? is 109.7 centimeters in height; the stand

ing attendants are approximately 58 centimeters

high, and the seated ones, 30 centimeters. The

statues of the pages were done in various poses,

and were meant to be arranged to the right and to

the left of the main image. As a result the nine

statues combine to create a unique and interesting

composition. Each statue was carefully colored,

and all the surfaces of the garments of all the fig ures were decorated with fine motifs. The motifs

themselves are varied; as on the paintings of the

Four Deva Kings no motif is repeated. The actual drawing of the motifs on the statues

is more detailed than that on the Boston paint

ings, but the line is not quite as free. Differences in

the brushwork are visible on each one, and this

most probably means that the statues were painted

by Ch?my?'s atelier. That Ch?my? worked

closely with his disciples is partially borne out by the fact that two years earlier Ch?my? painted the protective shrine of Eiky?-ji with the assis

tance of two sh?busshi.dci Although it seems

doubtful that Ch?my? did all the work, some

motifs are analogous to those found on the paint

ings of the Four Deva Kings (Figs. 26, 27). For

example, the motif of a cakra entwined with

clouds found on the loincloth of Eki,de one of

Fud?'s pages, is similar even in color and form to

the decorative motif on the helmet of K?moku.

The motifs of monstrous fish found in the paint

ing of K?moku of the Boston set closely resem



Fig. 24. K?en and Ch?my?. Fudo and His Eight Great Pages. Wood with polychrome. Setagayasan Kannon-d?, Tokyo.

Photograph courtesy Professor Nishikawa Shinji.

Fig. 25. Dedicatory passage found inside the statue of the Bhiksu Sh?j?. One o? Fud? and His Eight Great Pages. Setagayasan Kannon-d?, Tokyo. Photograph courtesy Professor Nishikawa Shinji.

31



Figs. 26, 27. Details of motif on Fud?, Fig. 24.

ble those found on garments of the statues of the

Eight Great Pages. Dots of pale green malachite

have been added to the motif of peonies on the

armor over the stomach of Shitoku, another of

the pages, and the use of this technique of embel

lishing the armor can be found on the breastplate of Z?ch? in the set of paintings in Boston as

well. The similarities in the painting include not

only the motifs themselves, but the techniques as

well. Because of these similarities, and because we

know that Ch?my? did paint the statues, then

there should be general agreement with an attri

bution of the paintings of the Four Deva Kings to

Ch?my?. The four statues of the attendants to the Four

Deva Kings said to have been in the Shingon-d? of Eiky?-ji can also be connected to the Boston

paintings. The most detailed study of these stat

ues was done in 1962 by Nishikawa Ky?tar?.31 T?h?-tendf (east) (Fig. 28) and Namp?-tendg

(south) are owned by the Tokyo National Mu

seum; Saih?-tendh (west) (Figs. 29, 30) by the

Seikad? Foundation; and Hopp?-tendi (north)

by the Museum of Art in Atami. There are in

scriptions in ink on all four of these statues that

indicate that the statues were carved in the year

corresponding to 1267 and that the sculptor was

the same daibusshi K?en.

32

The inscriptions on the base of the Saih?-ten

(Fig. 31) and the Hopp?-ten include the phrase "Enshrined in the Shingon-d?, Gy ?en.

" 4)

From the Sammu kanrei shidai^ (Proceedings of the

Director of the Temple Office) quoted in the Uchi

yama no ki, it is known that Gy?en worked in the

temple office at Eiky?-ji for twenty-three years, from late 1247 until 1269.a2 Therefore the Shin

gon-d? in the inscription on these two statues

must refer to the Shingon-d? at the temple. There

are no records that there ever were statues of the

Four Deva Kings in the Shingon-d? that would

have statues such as these as their attendants. The

Boston paintings of the Four Deva Kings, how

ever, were originally in the Shingon-d?, and we

know that they were painted by Ch?my? in

1253, during the period that Gy?en was in charge of the temple office. In the paintings of the Four

Deva Kings there are usually attendants other than

jaki included in the composition. Consequently, it is not too far fetched or impossible to assume

that these four statues were done to supplement the previously executed paintings of the Four Deva

Kings. The four attendant figures were sculpted fourteen years after the paintings were dedicated,

and it seems natural to conclude that they were

produced as attendant figures to the paintings in

accordance with some plan of Gy?en's. Includ



Fig. 28. K?en.T?h?-ten, Attendant to the Deva of the East.

Wood with polychrome. Dated 1267. Tokyo National Museum. Photograph courtesy Nishikawa Ky?tar?.

Fig. 29. K?en. Saih?-ten, Attendant to the Deva of the

West. Dated 1267. Seikad? Foundation, Tokyo. Photograph

courtesy Nishikawa Ky?tar?.

Fig. 30. Motif of heavenly fish. Detail of Figure 28. Fig. 31. Inscription. Detail of Figure 29.

33



ing the bases, all four of the statues are about 38

centimeters in height, and therefore they stand

slightly smaller than thejaki in the paintings. As

suming for the moment that they were meant to

be placed in front of the paintings, these statues

are more or less of an appropriate size. Because

there are no other known examples of such an

arrangement combining painting and sculpture,

just how these attendant figures were meant to be

arranged in relation to the paintings remains a

mystery.

These statues are entirely poly chromed, and

this use of color indicates an important connec

tion between them and the artist of the paintings,

Ch?my?. The motifs are done more freely than

on the statues of Fud? with His Eight Great

Pages, and their expressiveness is reminiscent of

the motifs on the Four Deva Kings (Fig. 31). The

conclusion can be reached that the painting on the

statues of Fud? and his attendants was the product of Ch?my?'s workshop because of the stiffer line

quality in the motifs. In contrast, the added free

dom found in the motifs on these small attendant

sculptures would seem to indicate that the paint

ing was done by Ch?my? himself. Until further

detailed analysis has been done, the exact relation

ship between the two groups of works cannot be

adequately explained, but I wish to suggest the

possibility of just such a relationship.

CONCLUSION

The conclusions concerning paintings of the Four

Deva Kings in the collection of the Museum of

Fine Arts, Boston, introduce new data to the

scholarly world. These paintings, done on the back

of the fixed partition behind the statue of the Bud

dha enshrined as the main image of the Shingon d? of the abandoned temple, Eiky?-ji, have been

proved to correspond to the paintings of the Four

Deva Kings done in Kench? 5 by the ebusshi

hokky? Ch?my?, who came from the southern

capital, the present-day city of Nara. These paint

ings have many late Heian elements, especially in

the treatment of the faces, and thus they may well

have been based on earlier versions of paintings of

34

the same deities done at the time that the temple was founded. In fact, it is possible to conclude that

the extant paintings were painted with the artist

making actual reference to the earlier works and

this is one reason for the bright harmonious color

tones in the paintings. The realistic depiction and the use of modulat

ing lines, however, possess the movement and the

lightheartedness typical of paintings of the Ka

makura period, yet they still successfully repre sent the figures in a powerful manner. By includ

ing the rough sea around the kings, the composi tions are given added depth. The undulating

movement of the waves has the effect of unifying the composition of each of the paintings and gives rise to an even greater feeling of expanse behind

the kings. These features of the paintings are the

result of Ch?my?'s great originality and his abil

ities with both brush and composition. The note

worthy elements of the paintings do not stop here. The command of colorful decorative motifs

also characterizes these paintings, and well illus

trates Ch?my?'s skills as a colorist. The arrange ment of the works, with the paintings of Jikoku and Tamon, which are done in understated tones,

at the outsides while the paintings of Z?ch? and

K?moku, which are done in brighter tones, are in

the center, is just another indication of Ch?my?'s

genius in creating the overall composition.

Ch?my?'s artistic activities extended over sixty

years, from the second decade of the thirteenth

century A.D. right up to its close. Therefore, it is

possible to conclude that Ch?my? painted the

Four Deva Kings when he was in his forties, at the

peak of his career. These four paintings are master

pieces of the mid-Kamakura period, and they hold

an important place in the history of painting in

Japan. These works provide a new standard for

understanding the painting of the mid-thirteenth

century, because there are no other works of this

scale from this time. Because it is also possible to

identify where they were originally housed, when

they were actually painted, and the identity of the

artist who created them, these paintings are all the

more precious.



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Notes

I would like to express my gratitude to the Japan Institute of Harvard

University and to the Asiatic Department of the Museum of Fine

Arts, Boston.

i. Yanagisawa Taka, Bosuton bijutsukanz? no Shitenn? zu?

shin hakken no haiji Eiky?-ji Shingon-d? sh?jie, in Bukky? kaiga,

Zaigai nihon no shih? vol. i (Tokyo: Mainichi shimbunsha, 1980),

pp. 98-111. 2. Ernest F. Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, vol. 1

(New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912), p. 160.

3. Where the pasted-on identifications came from is unclear.

However, I would like to add that they do in fact correspond to my own conclusions about the identification of the deities.

4. During the Heian period sh?ji were fixed partitions erected

inside of structures to divide an open space into rooms.

5. Nihon kokuh? zensh?y vol. 14 (Tokyo: Nihon kokuh? zensh?n

kank?kai, 1925), pp. 116-117. 6. Kameda Tsutomu, K?fuku-ji no kaiga to edokoro eshi, Bukky?

geijutsu 40 (September 1959): 104-108; reprinted in Nihon bukky?

bijutsushijosetsu (Tokyo: Gakugei shorin, 1970), pp. 395-399.

7. See Yanagisawa Taka, Ninna-ji z? h?j?bako nony? no itae no

Shitenn?z? ni tsuite, Bijutsu kenky? 256 (March 1969): 10-20.

8. For example, among m?ndalas, the H?r?kaku M?ndala in the

collection of the Freer Gallery and the Kusha M?ndala in the collec

tion of T?dai-ji; among paintings of individual deities, the painting of the Bodhisattva Fugen Enmei in the collection of the Museum of

Fine Arts, Boston; the painting of Juntei Kannon in the Tokyo Na

tional Museum; and the painting on the doors from the Kichij?-ten zushi in the collection of Tokyo University of Fine Arts.

9. Besson zakki, vol. 47, inTakakusuJ. and OnoG. (eds.), Shinsh?

daiz?ky? taish? zuz?, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Daiz?shuppankabushikigaisha,

1937), P-5i4,pl-246. 10. Besson zakki, vol. 47, in TakakusuJ. and Ono G. (eds.), Shin

sh? daiz?ky? taish? zuzo, voL 3, pp. 519-522, pis. 254-257. 11. Matsumoto Eiichi, Tonk?ga no kenky? (Tokyo: Tokyo koku

ritsu bunkazai kenky?jo, 1937), pis. 120a, 123a. 12. Matsumoto, Tonk?ga no kenky?, pl. 120b.

13. S?chou-shih Jui-kuang-ssu T*a Fa-hsien I-p'i Wu-tai, Pei

Sung Wen-wu, Wen-wuiyS (November 1979): 21-31.

14. Yanagisawa Taka, Fujita bijutsukan no mikky? ry?bu daiky? kantokuzu ni tsuite, Bijutsu kenky? 187 (March 1956): 36-52.

15. in Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, vol. 1, p. 160.

Presently at T?dai-ji there are statues of Tamon-ten and K?moku

ten dating from the Heian period with inscriptions indicating that

they were originally from Eiky?-ji. For more information on these

statues and their provenance see T?dai-ji II, Nara rokudaiji taikan

vol. 10 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1968), pp. 71-73, pis. 210-215.

Possibly the paintings of the Four Deva Kings came to that temple at

the same time as the statues.

16. See note 13. My other articles on the subject include Eiky?-ji

Ry?esh?ningaz?, Bijutsu kenky?2$$ (March 1964): 37-41; Shingon hass? gy?jo zue to haiji Eiky?-ji Shingon-d? zushie, 1-3, Bijutsu

kenky? 300 (July 1975): 14-35; 302 (November 1975): 11-32; 304

(March 1976): 7-28.

17. Uchiyama okibumi, included in Fujita Tsuneyo (ed.), K?kan

bijutsu shiry?jiin hen, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Ch?? k?ron bijutsu shuppan,

1976), p. 12.

18. Uchiyama no ki, included in Fujita (ed.), K?kan bijutsu shiry?jiin hen, vol. 3, p. 30.

19. Uchiyama no ki, included in Fujita (ed.), K?kan bijutsu shiry?jiin hen, vol. 3, p. 34.

36

20. Yakushi-ji, Nara rokudaii taikan vol. 6 (Tokyo: Iwanami

shoten, 1970), p. 98. 21. Ninna-ji shiry?, jishi-hen (Nara: Nara kokuritsu bunkazai

kenky?jo, 1964), p. 372. 22. Tamura Yoshinaga, Shunkaku-ji no K?gen zaimei Jiz? ni

tsuite, Shiseki to bijutsu 184 (1948); ?ta Koboku, Jiz? bosatsu no

shosh? no z?y?, part III, Shiseki to bijutsu 338 (November 1963):

302-305.

Sonchi was an artist of such high reputation that he was chosen as

one of four artists to paint pictures of famous places on fixed parti tions in a hall of the Saish??-in of Emperor Gotoba. His activities are

comparatively well known. According to the Meigetsu-ki, in 1213 he

participated, along with the eshi Ry?ga, in the decoration of the

nine-storied pagoda at H?sh?-ji. From the Mony?-ki it is known that

in 1224 he painted pictures illustrating rebirth in the Nine Realms of

Existence for the edono of the Sh?ry?-in at Shitenn?-ji, and it is

believed that in 1222 he painted a picture of Sh?toku Taishi lecturing on the Sh?man-gy? for the Shari-den at H?ry?-ji that survives today

(Fig. 32). See Kameda Tsutomu, Taishi Sh?man-gy? go k?san zu,

in Nihon bukky? bijutsushijosetsu (Tokyo: Gakugei shorin, 1970), pp.

202-211). Ever since Professor Kameda wrote about it, this painting has been accepted as a work by Sonchi. The surface has been dark

ened by soot; however, in places the faces of the various figures remain clearly enough to be able for one to tell that depiction was

quite detailed and done in traditional techniques. Through this

painting we can learn something of Sonchi's style. Even more per tinent to our present discussion is the record in the Uchiyama no ki

Fig. 32. Sonchi. Detail of Shotoku Taishi Lecturing on the

Sh?man-gy?. ca. 1222. H?ry?-ji, Nara prefecture.



that there were paintings by h?gen Sonchi at Eiky?-ji. The partici

pation by Sonchi's disciple, Ch?my?, in the artistic activities at

Eiky?-ji may very well have been the result of a recommendation by the master. The fact that a similar touch pervades the paintings of the

Four Deva Kings in the Boston Museum lends credence to my con

viction that the artists of the two works were master and disciple.

23. K?fuku-ji I, Nara rokudaiji taikan vol. 7 (Tokyo: Iwanami

shoten, 1969), p. 90.

24. Gang?-ji Gokuraku-b?, Gang?-ji, Daian-ji, Hannya-ji, J?rinAn, Yamato koji taikan vol. 3 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1977), pp. 37

38.

25. Uchiyama no ki, included in Fujita (ed.), Kokan bijutsu shiry?jiin

hen, vol. 3, p. 49.

26. Nishikawa Shinji, K?en kenky? josetsu, Tokyo kokuritsu

hakubutsukan kiy? 3 (1968): 135-142 and chart.

27. I was permitted to examine these statues through the kindness

of the head priest of Setagayasan Kannon-ji, and I wish to express

my gratitude to him.

28. T?dai-ji daibusshi Ry?y? narabi ni hokky? Senne kasanete

m?su, in T?dai-ji monjo, no. 3, saiho 3. Photocopy from the Tokyo

University shiry? hensanjo.

29. Uchiyama okibumi, included in Fujita (ed.), K?kan bijutsu shiry?

jiin hen, vol. 3, pp. 14-15.

30. Uchiyama no ki, included in Fujita (ed.), K?kan bujutsu shiry?

jiin hen, vol. 3, pp. 34, 49.

31. Nishikawa Ky?tar?, K?en saku Shitenn? kenzoku z? ni

tsuite, Museum 313 (August 1962): 21-24.

32. Uchiyama okubumi, included in Fujita (ed.), K?kan bijutsu shiry?

jiin hen, vol. 3, pp. 18-19.

Dimensions of the Boston Museum

Four Deva Kings

Registration number and Width

name of Height Length of silk

deity (cm) (cm) abc

n.406ino. i 148.2 73.2 9.7 44.3 19.2

Tamon-ten

11.4064 no. 4 148.3 72.9 42.5 30.4 K?moku-ten

11.4062 no. 2 148.4 72.7 21.2 44.2 7.3

Z?ch?-ten

11.4063 no. 3 147.0 72.5 31.5 40.0

Jikoku-ten

No. 2 is made of three pieces of cloth. Piece b is of standard width,

piece a is half of that. If piece c were combined with piece a from no.

3 it would be equal to one standard width. The length of piece b

from no. 4 and piece a from no. 1 combined is more or less equal to

one standard width.

37



Documents

The Paintings of the Four Deva Kings in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Recently Rediscovered Paintings from the Shingon-Dō of the Abandoned Temple Eikyū-ji