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Behind the Sensationalism: Images of a Decaying Corpse in Japanese Buddhist Art
Author(s): Fusae Kanda

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Mar., 2005), pp. 24-49
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067154 .
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Behind the Sensationalism: Images of a Decaying
Corpse in Japanese Buddhist Art
Fusae Kanda
One of the most in art is the that this text contributed to the of the contem
provocative images Japanese development
kus?zu, a of a corpse in the process of decay on the nine and its in
graphic depiction plation stages pictorialization Japan.
and The kus?zu, of the nine This text the canonical sequence of
decomposition. "painting stages provided corporeal decay
of a
decaying corpse" (hereafter, painting
of the nine stages), used in paintings of the genre (see App. 1): (1) distension
was executed in
Japan from approximately the thirteenth (ch?s?); (2) rupture (kais?); (3) exudation of blood (ketsuzusd);
through the nineteenth centuries in various formats, includ (4) putrefaction (n?rans?); (5) discoloration and desiccation
ing handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and printed books. The (seiosd); (6) consumption by animals and birds (tansd); (7)
subject itself is derived from a traditional Buddhist doctrine dismemberment (sanso); (8) bones (kossd); and (9) parched to
that on the nine of a dust (sh?s?). The order stated in the Discourse on the Great
urges contemplation stages decaying
corpse (kusdkan, hereafter, contemplation
on the nine Wisdom probably entered Japanese paintings of the subject by
stages). The teaching dates to the early fifth century and means of the Discourse on
Mahayana Meditation and Contempla
a meditation on the of a tion Maka shikan, Chinese: Mohe re
promotes systematic impurity decay (Japanese: zhiguan),
ing corpse
as an aid to ardent devotees who wish to liberate corded and edited by a disciple of the Chinese Tiantai (Jap
themselves from sensual desires and affections.1 anese: Tendai) master Zhiyi (538-597) based on his lecture
This features of the paintings in 594. The Discourse on Meditation and
paper explores unrecognized Mahayana Contempla
of the nine as almost half a tion, which the order of decay in the Discourse
stages they appear through preserved given
millennium of art. We will see that these narrative on the Great Wisdom, had a substantial on Pure Land
Japanese impact
paintings
functioned as distinct visual agents for audiences in Buddhist belief, including the content of the Essentials of
different eras. The functionality of the image shifted from a Salvation (Japanese: Oj?y?sh?), a seminal work of Pure Land
meditative focus for pietistic catharsis, to a didactic incentive belief written by the Japanese monk Genshin (942-1017) of
for the pursuit
of
paradise,
to an
intercessory offering
for the the Tendai school in 985.5 The description of the stages of a
dead at merit transferal rites, to a
popularized platform
for
decaying corpse in the Essentials of Salvation includes direct
politically manipulated on feminine morality. After
precepts quotations
from the Discourse on
Mahayana Meditation and
giving the textual and theological background for the nine Contemplation, although the order of the stages differs (see
of a I will examine four of the 1).
stages decaying corpse, images App.
nine from different centuries, which I term the Naka The nine stages of appear also in medieval literature,
stages decay
mura, Raig?ji, Dainenbutsuji, and Akagi versions. Finally, and a review of these passages
can further illuminate the
some remarks are offered on the of this of the The theme is found in a verse
enduring vitality development subject.
sensational form termed of the contemplations on the nine
subject. "poem stages
of a kusdkanshi). Such
decaying corpse" (Japanese: poems
Religious and Literary Background have survived in China as well as in

Japan,6
where two versions
A of these relies on a conver existed. The were written in Chinese char

proper understanding images Japanese poems
sance with the doctrinal sources
treating the
decaying corpse acters and are attributed to the luminaries K?kai (774-835)
as a
subject
for devotional practice.
The contemplation
on and Su Tongpo (1063-1101 ).7 The two poems (which can be
the nine stages, while found in many Buddhist su tras, first termed the K?kai and Su Tongpo versions) derive their
appeared in the Sutra on the Sam?dhi Contemplation of the authority
from the stature of their supposed authors: K?kai,
Oceanlike Buddha (Japanese: Kanbutsu zanmai kaikyd; Chinese: the famed Japanese monk who brought esoteric Buddhism
Guanfo sanmei hai jing, translated by Buddhabhadra [359 from China to Japan and founded the Shingon school, and
429], ca. 400) or the Discourse on the Great Wisdom (Japanese: Su Tongpo, who was a Northern
Song scholar-bureaucrat as
Dai chidoron; Sanskrit: translated well as a renowned and Both poems detail
Mah?prajn?p?ramitit?-s?stra, poet calligrapher.
by Kum?raj?va [344-413], 402-5).2 The practice is a type of the nine stages of a

decaying corpse, but in different formats
contemplation on impurity (Japanese: fufokan) that allows and orders, and with some variation in the designations
devotees to overcome hindrances to
enlightenment and to
assigned to each stage (see App. 1). The K?kai version has a
carnal desires, the sexual In the short followed twelve five-character verses for each
conquer especially appetite.3 preface by
Discourse on the Great Wisdom and other texts, such as the stage, while the Su Tongpo version has a preface followed by
Chapters on theTrue Meaning ofMahay ana Teachings (Japanese: seven-character verses for each The Su Tongpo
eight stage.8
Daij? gish?, Chinese: Dacheng yizhang), by the Chinese monk poem is included in woodblock-printed books dated between
Hui Yuan (523-592), the love for another's body is subdi 1380 and 13849 and in depictions of the nine stages that were
vided into
multiple types, and instruction is
given
as to which
widely circulated during the Edo period (1603-1867), with
of the is effective as a focus of med found in printed books, scrolls, and hand
phase decaying process examples hanging
itation for each lust.4 scrolls. (Because of its to the of the
conquering importance depictions
The Discourse on theGreat Wisdom is especially significant in nine stages, the poem is translated in Appendix 2.) The

IMAGES OF A DECAYING CORPSE IN JAPANESE BUDDHIST ART
25
oldestsurviving illustrated handscroll inscribed with the Su their critical faculties, for attachment to the
body is akin to
Tongpo poem is dated to 1527 (at Dainenbutsuji in Osaka). relishing the

droppings
of maggots in a toilet.14 The narrative
As early
as 1380, the poem began
to be
consistently
accom
highlights how meditation on the decay of a corpse proved
waka a verse form characterized successful in a monk's sensual desire for the
panied by poetry, by thirty eliminating
one in five For each of the nine the female a realization of the
syllables strophes. stages, body through transitory qualities
relevant verses of the Su were followed two of the human "shell." The also that the trained
Tongpo poem by story suggests
waka, yielding a total of eighteen waka for the image. The monk had refined the skill of acquiring the mental image of
author and date of these waka are unknown. The K?kai a without the of a
decaying corpse employment putrescent
version, contrast, never in conjunction with the Accounts such as these show that on
by appeared body. contemplations
of the corpse were a valued monastic in the pursuit of
images corporeal decay. practice
As it was frequently mentioned in Buddhist sutras, the the pious life and that the decaying corpse served as a visual
practice
of
contemplating
on a
decaying corpse was
adopted
aid to the discipline, at least until the mental image of decay
monks of their sectarian affiliations. was attained and available for devotional No
widely by regardless practice.15 Jap
Some medieval tales accounts of on a anese medieval tales mention the use of of
give contemplation pictorial images
corpse and reveal how monks may have the decaying corpse for meditation. Yet Chinese documents
decaying performed
the practice with visual aids. For a tale in A Com recount that such the on
example, images accompanied contemplation
panion in Solitude (Kankyo no tomo, 1216), written by Keisen (d. the nine stages, and the practice likely
was known among
1296), describes an anonymous monk at Mount Hiei, head monks as well. For on
Japanese example, Zhiyi's commentary
quarters of the Tendai school, who disappeared every night the Lotus Sutra, the Essential Meanings of theLotus Sutra (Jap
until morning.10 It was thought that he might be having anese: My?h? rengeky? gengi, Chinese: Miaofa lianhuajing xua
relations with a woman, because he always looked sad on his
nyi, 593), remarks that "[the high rank of] j?y?gi [Chinese:
return. One evening the monk was followed, and it was
changyouxi] was given [after death] to those who have built a
discovered that he was
going
down to Rendaino, a
region meditation hall for zen [meditation] practitioners and have
renowned for its cemeteries, to meditate on a the of a corpse for Another
decomposing painted image contemplation."16
corpse.11
At this time, corpses were
typically
left
exposed
in
example is that of the Chinese
poet Baoji (active about Gens?
cemeteries or in fields, since the practice of interment did Tenp? [Chinese: Xuanzong Tianbao] 6 [747]) of the Tang
not become widespread
in
Japan
until after the fourteenth dynasty (618-907), who composed a work entitled "Contem
century.12
The medieval account
provides anecdotal confir
plation on the Mural of the Nine Stages of a Decaying
mation that Buddhist monks exercised the method of con The mural has not survived, but the title reveals
Corpse."17
on the nine as in the Discourse on the that the of meditating on also ex
templation stages taught practice corporeal decay
Great Annotations of Abhidharma (Japanese: Abi daruma dai isted in China.
It is worth noting that Baoji composed a
bibasharon, Sanskrit: Abhidharma-mah?vibh?s?-s?stra, translated farewell poem for a Japanese envoy to Tang China, which
by Xuanzang, 656-59). The procedure is outlined in this means that the method of employing these paintings for
sutra as follows: devotional could have been transmitted to
contemplation
Japan with the treasured
along poem.18
Practitioner, first go to a mound to observe the of a
stages
decaying corpse, such as the stage of turning bluish black; The Painting of the Nine Stages in the Nakamura
for a
deeper contemplation, step back and sit at a
place Collection
and the image If the concentration is I our examination of this and its remarkable
contemplate again. begin genre
distracted and the is unclear, and you wish to attain transformation in culture with what I believe is the
image Japanese
a better
contemplation, again go to the mound to see it as earliest type of the image. The handscroll of the nine stages
before.13 in the Nakamura collection, dated to the four
private early
teenth century (Fig. la-i, 12% by 195V6 inches, or 32 by 495.5
Another literary example of a pious monk curbing his centimeters), is generally called the Kusdshi emaki (Illustrated
sensual desires through contemplation
on an
impure decay
Handscroll of the Poem of theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse;
ing body is found in A Collection of Religious Awakenings hereafter, the Nakamura version). The handscroll includes
(Hosshinsh?), written by Kamo no Ch?mei (d. 1216). It tells ten narrative illustrations, arranged from right
to left. Before
the story of the monk Genpin, who fell in love with the wife the depiction of the nine stages of
decay, the sequence is
of a chief councillor at first sight and confessed this to the prefaced by
a
portrait of a seated woman with long hair, in
councillor. Since the chief councillor Gen aristocratic attire, a of the painting's
greatly respected clearly rendering subject
pin, he arranged
a rendezvous for the monk and his wife. before death (Fig. 2). Between her red lips, the white teeth
Genpin appeared in formal clerical attire for their meeting. covered
by black
pigment?a
custom among aristocratic
He never attempted to approach the woman but only gazed women?are visible.19 The
predeath portrait suggests that the
on her for about two hours and then left. The chief council subject relished her and wealth, a characterization
beauty
lor's reverence for
Genpin deepened, seeing that the
pious expressed as well in the subsequent first stage of the newly
monk overcame his sensual desires
by contemplating
on the deceased (Fig. la).20 In this stage, she lies with her head
process of decay of the impure body of a beautiful woman. As supported by a pillow on a raised tatami mat with ornamental
a result of his achieved an Her covers most of
contemplation, Genpin enlighten trimmings. leaf-patterned undergarment
ment in which he realized that people incapable of such her naked white body but leaves her right breast exposed, a
self-control who in sensual desires lose distinctive feature of the Nakamura version.21 The first two
indulge transitory

ART BULLETIN MARCH 2005 VOLUME LXXXVII NUMBER 1
26
1 Illustrated Handscroll the Nine a

of the Poem of Stages of Decaying Corpse, 14th century. Kanagawa, Nakamura Collection (photo: Tokyo
National Museum). one nine, to left: (a) newly deceased; (b) distension; (c) (d) exudation
Stages through arranged right rupture;
of blood; (e) putrefaction; (f) discoloration and desiccation; (g) consumption by birds and animals; (h) skeleton; (i) disjointing.
illustrations seem to a sensual attractiveness The order of the of in the handscroll is as

emphasize ly.23 stages decay
springing
from the woman's voluptuous figure and noble follows (see App. 1): (0) predeath portrait; (1) newly de
background.
In
arousing
an interest in the young beauty ceased; (2) distension; (3) rupture; (4) exudation of blood;
before delivering its lesson on
taming desire, the image
am (5) putrefaction; (6) discoloration and desiccation; (7) con
plifies
its cathartic value. sumption by birds and animals; (8) skeleton; and (9) disjoint
In the third through tenth illustrations, a highly realistic ing. The closest match of the order of
decay
in the Nakamura
of unfolds in the scroll. The realism is cruelly version is to the of the Discourse on
process decay description Mahayana
accentuated in several ways. Each corpse looms large
in its Meditation and Contemplation, but with a few differences. An
frame of 12% by 19% inches (32 by 50 centimeters), leaving image of the newly deceased was inserted as the first stage of
little the viewer with its the Nakamura version, and to limit the total number to nine,
background, aggressively confronting
of Given the scroll's anatom the ninth of bones to dust was omitted.24
image corporeal decay. precise stage being parched
ical depictions, it has been suggested that this scroll follows Another, more significant, difference is found in the eighth
the of an actual, observed I to the text, in the of dismemberment,
decomposition process corpse.22 stage. According stage
agree with this view, and the illustrations in the sixth (Fig. If) "the head and hands are located in different places, and five
and eighth stages (Fig. lh) provide especially compelling organs are detached from the body and shrunken."25 The
visual evidence that there had been a model for these Nakamura version does not show the of dismember
images. stage
The painting of the sixth stage captures the network of sinews ment. Instead, it displays two different forms of bones in the
and muscles that appear under the parched
skin. The com
eighth (Fig. lh) and ninth stages (Fig. li): a whole skeleton
plete skeleton in the eighth stage
was drawn with a
precise, and a disjointing of the bones. Thus, the key to interpreting
confident brush. It is likely that the artist availed himself of the divergent
order of
decay
in the Nakamura version lies in
the unburied that were in at this the reason for two forms of the skeleton and
corpses prevalent Japan articulating
time. the stage of dismemberment.
omitting
The relation of the order of the nine in the Naka As we have noted, of the nine of a
stages descriptions stages
mura version to textual sources has been various are found in many Buddhist sources. The
interpreted decaying corpse

27
2 Predeath of an aristocrat
portrait
woman, from Illustrated Handscroll of
thePoem of theNine Stages of a Decaying
Corpse, 14th century
texts vary in their and of the of concentrations on that

ordering description decompo specific sequence particular objects
sition but three share an identical the the to achieve a state of inner bliss. One of
process, sequence: help practitioner
Discourse on Meditation and the Dis the methods for the transcendental state was con
Mahayana Contemplation, acquiring
course on the Great Wisdom, and the
Explanations of the Doctrines templation
on a
decaying body.28
onMeditation for Enlightenment (Japanese: Shakuzen haramitsu The Sutra of theSecretsfor theEssential Way ofMeditation is one
shidai homon, Chinese: Shichan bolomi cidi famen, by Zhiyi, of the oldest texts for zen and it no doubt influ
practice,
568-75). The lack of consistency among the surviving enced later meditative In fact, the content of the
practices.
documents may indicate that the order itself was not critical. sutra was zen
into actual Inside Caves
incorporated practices.
While the subtitles to each of the nine
given stages vary 20 and 42 of the Toyuk Caves, Turfan, Xinjiang Province,
the sources, the designations share similar
among meanings China, mural paintings dated to between the mid-fifth and
for each of the relevant with one obvious
stages, exception. the seventh show the substantial of the
century29 impact
Some sources one to bones, and oth
specify stage relating sutra.30 Both caves have extant of monks
images contemplat
ers include two such a whole skeleton and
ing on a decaying body and on a skeleton
stages: disjointed it
sources a
(Fig. 3) .31Thus,
bones. For of bones, the
mentioning single stage is clear that from times monks meditated on bones and
early
texts refer to either a whole skeleton or bones.
disjointed on the whole skeleton as of zen
(especially) part practice.
For sources that on two of
give contemplations stages The of the practice is reinforced
the whole skeleton and the bones are des
significance by the emphasis
bones, disjointed to the of the whole skeleton in other
as distinct given contemplation
ignated objects for meditation in two sequential
meditation manuals.32
stages. In these sources, the stage of dismemberment is omit
The two of skeletal bones also owe their
ted to allow for the inclusion of two on stages provenance
contemplations
to the Discourse on Meditation and
different forms of bones. What could have motivated the Mahayana Contemplation.
The in the handscroll
skeleton is depicted in pink, as if it had
distinct on a whole skeleton and the
contemplations sepa
just lost its fleshy tissue. The pink hue (Fig. lh) is clearly
rated bones?
on on distinguished from the pure white color of the disjointed
Sequential the whole skeleton and
contemplations
the disjointed bones are found in six Buddhist textual sourc bones in the following stage (Fig. li). The distinction in color
between the two resembles the of
es: the Sutra of the Secrets for the Essential Way ofMeditation stages closely description
the eighth stage found in the text: "Contemplate on the two
(Japanese: Zenpiy?h?ky?, Chinese: Chan miyaofajing, translated
kinds of bones: the one kind that is still covered by pus, and
by Kum?raj?va, ca. 400), the Sutra of theEssentials ofMeditation
the other kind that is completely pure white. Or meditate on
(Japanese: Zenydgyo, Chinese: Chanyaojing, translated before
a set of bones, or their into
220), the Chapters on the True Meaning ofMahayana Teachings, changing disjointed fragments."33
the Su Tongpo and K?kai versions of the on a Further evidence that attests to the central role of the
poems decay
and the Essentials None of these six Discourse on Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation in the
ing corpse, of Salvation.26
texts includes a of dismemberment. them, the creation of the in the Nakamura version is found in
stage Among images
Sutra of the Secrets for the Essential Way ofMeditation and the the zen practices as outlined in the text itself. Two different
Sutra of theEssentials ofMeditation are the oldest meditation levels of contemplation
on the nine stages
are described. The
manuals characterized by meticulous instructions in zen lower level is contemplation on all stages up through the
(Sanskrit: dhyana) practice.27 This zen meditation entails a ninth, when the bones are
parched
to dust. The text notes,

28
3 A monk on a
contemplating
skeleton, Cave 42, Toyuk Caves,
Turfan, ca. mid-5th-7th century
(photo: courtesy of H. Sud?)
The practitioners who meditate in this way just seek to on scholarship that viewed the handscroll as an illustration of
curtail their sufferings by trying tomake the skeleton burn the Su
Tongpo poem
on the nine
stages.36
Yet no texts of the
and are in a rush to reach the fruit of are attached to the illustrations, and no
disappear. They poem companion
arhatship [state of liberation], and are no longer enjoying handscroll containing the poem has survived, if it existed at
the meditation on the of Since all. I argue this traditional view of the connection
phenomenal aspect reality. against
do not continue to the skeleton, between the and the because of the scroll's
they contemplate they image poem
have no way to reach concentration, transcendental fac connection with the Discourse on Med
transparent Mahayana
transformation, vows, wisdom, and the level itation and In on the lid of the wooden
ulty, highest Contemplation. fact,
of zen.34 case for the Nakamura the "Kus?zu
version, inscription reads,
The level of ends before

(painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse) painted by
upper contemplation, by contrast,
Tosa Mitsunobu [active ca. 1469-1523] at Sait? [Western
the of bones to dust. The reason for this
stage parched a
Pagoda], Jakk?in." Jakk?in is subsidiary temple of Enrya
truncation is now obvious, as on
enigmatic contemplation
kuji, the main temple of the Tendai school on Mount Hiei, in
bones allows the to attain a transcendental level
practitioner on an on
Prefecture,37 which emphasis the
of meditation that brings the ultimate inner bliss. The Naka Shiga early placed
zen
mura version follows the level of out contemplative practice.
upper contemplation
It is that the Tendai school's and associ
lined in the as it ends with on the likely early deep
discourse, emphasis stage
ation with zen meditation led to the creation of an at
of the disjointed bones and does not depict the stage of image
Mount Hiei for ascetic that the four
bones parched to dust.35 Instead, a long blank space (1334 practices predated
Nakamura version.38 This is cor
inches, or 35 centimeters) is left at the end of the scroll after teenth-century supposition
the last illustration, as if indicating that there is another stage roborated by an entry in the historical chronicle Mirror of the
in the text. we see that while the Nakamura version
Eastern Court (Azuma kagami) for the eighth day of the elev
Thus,
follows the content of the Discourse on enth month of 1212 (Kenryaku 2).39 The document recounts
carefully Mahayana
Meditation and Contemplation, it was adjusted specifically to that a painting entitled the Flourish and Decay of theLife ofOno
follow the upper level of contemplation for the utilitarian no Komachi (Ono no Komachi ichigo jdsui no koto) was shown at
zen No records have survived to a held at the residence of the
purpose of verify picture competition shogun
practice.
the use of the Nakamura version the scroll retains Minamoto no Sanetomo, and it received the
itself, yet first-place prize.
of a prototype in The painting of the ninth-century poet and legendary beauty
the pictorial elements employed by monks
their ascetic meditative for sensual de is believed to have been an image of the nine stages of a
practices overcoming
sires for a transcendental state. Let In fact, the Nakamura version was once
and, ultimately, achieving decaying corpse.
us consider the functions of the Nakamura version in detail. identified in a Tokyo National Museum
as this work exhibi
The Nakamura version's traditional title, Kusdshi emaki (Il tion catalog of 1974.40 A lack of strong evidence in support of
lustrated Handscroll of thePoem of theNine Stages of a Decaying the identification, however, resulted in the removal of this
Corpse), is not original but was given to the work in 1977 based tide for the painting. Nonetheless, the account suggests the

29
existence of the earlier graphic depiction of the decaying version is found in a set of fifteen hanging scrolls with paint
corpse of a beauty, which could have been the model for the ings that show selected scenes of
pain, suffering, and torment
Nakamura version. from the six realms of reincarnation. Four of the fifteen
Later, the on the nine became asso scrolls treat the human realm and illustrate the of
contemplation stages aspects
ciated with the Zen sect that focused on meditation existence: the of birth and
practice. corporeal impurity, suffering
The biography of Mus? Soseki (1275-1351), a prominent death, the suffering of war, and life's transience. The scroll
Zen monk, tells us that he used a
painting
of the nine stages illustrating corporeal impurity is entitled Painting of theImpure
at age fourteen in 1288.41 Thus, the
image
was known as a
Aspect of theHuman Realm (jind? fujdzu, Fig. 4, 61V4 by 25%
pictorial aid within the Zen monastic community. In addi inches, or 155.5 by 65 centimeters) and will be referenced
tion, the two successive
contemplations
on the skeletal bones, hereafter as the Raig?ji version.
an essential practice in the zen texts, are mentioned in the It should be noted that the concept of the six realms of
two apocryphal K?kai and Su Tongpo versions of the poems reincarnation was at first doctrinally independent from the
on the nine stages. Nakamura Hajime has suggested that the on the nine stages. Nonetheless, the
contemplation pictori
poems were composed by monks at the primary Zen temples alization of the stages of a decaying corpse was selected in the
in Kyoto called the Five Mountains.42 If true, the practice of Raig?ji version because it expressed the impurity of the hu
two discrete on skeletal bones had been ab man realm. The connection between the on
contemplations | contemplation
sorbed the Zen monastic From its locus of the nine and the six realms of existence stems from the
by community. stages
origin in the Tendai school, the image of the nine stages Essentials of Salvation,44 and while Genshin does not enumer
to sectarian boundaries ate the nine themselves, the awful scenes of the six
began spread beyond throughout stages
medieval Japan. realms of existence in the version refer to the content
Raig?ji
After its involvement with Zen, the Tendai school at Mount of this text. In fact, the
inscriptions in the cartouches at the
Hiei went on to introduce Pure Land Buddhist belief to top of each scroll were taken from Genshin's treatise.
Japan. The first exponent of the new belief, which flourished In this image, which has suffered some fading over the last
from the late tenth century, was the Tendai monk Genshin, seven hundred years, the nine stages of a
decaying female
who wrote a seminal work on the Pure Land faith entitled the corpse are
arranged
in a
zigzag fashion from the first illus
Essentials of Salvation. This treatise, which became the major tration (newly deceased, Fig. 5) at upper right to the ninth
work for the promulgation of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, illustration (bones, Fig. 6) in the lower right corner, in the
a new doctrinal and functional context for the
provided following order (see App. 1): (1) newly deceased; (2) disten
image of the
decaying corpse. sion; (3) rupture; (4) exudation of blood; (5) putrefaction;
(6) discoloration and desiccation; (7) consumption by birds
The Painting of the Nine Stages at Sh?ju Raig?ji and animals; (8) dismemberment; and (9) bones. The order
Another early painting of the nine stages, dated to the late of
decay after distension follows that of the Discourse on Ma
thirteenth century, is from a set of fifteen paintings entitled hayana Meditation and Contemplation, which influenced the
Six Realms ofReincarnation (Rokudde) at Sh?ju Raig?ji in Shiga 45
Essentials of Salvation The subject of the decaying corpse is
Prefecture. Although this image is the earliest surviving work itself lurid, and the images in this painting are rendered in a
of the subject, I believe it represents an interpretation that realistic and unabashed manner. Yet the pictorial details of
postdates the type
seen in the Nakamura version. A careful the Raig?ji painting fail to match either the natural process
study of this work elucidates the entry of the theme into Pure of human
decomposition
or the
descriptions in the sutras.
Land Buddhist imagery and clarifies the functions of this For example, it makes only
a minimal visual distinction be
example of the genre. tween the second stage of rupturing to the third of exuding
In order to understand the image,
we need to take a brief blood, with a nearly identical body differentiated only by the
plunge into Pure Land Buddhist cosmology. After death, casual application of red pigment in the third stage. The fifth
are to be reincarnated into one of six of putrefaction to the sutras, should
living beings thought stage (Fig. 7), according
realms?hell, hungry ghosts, animals, titans, human
beings, depict the deformed corpse as if it were "wax melted by
and divine they remain in these realms fire."46 But in this the shows a desiccated state
beings?and trapped image corpse
if they fail to attain their rebirth in the Western Pure Land, that is closer to the sixth stage (Fig. 8), when the color
the otherworldly place where the deceased reside with Amida changes to bluish black through exposure to the wind and
Buddha. To
give guidance
to those who wish to be emanci sun. In addition, the images of both the fourth and fifth
from the of reincarnation, one of Gen executed in brushstrokes, have a cartoonlike
pated cycle chapter Stages, sketchy
shin's Essentials
of Salvation promotes
a
practice of contem
quality. The seventh stage, of consumption by birds and
plation on the horrifying aspects of the six realms. It is in the animals 9), ismarked by full, white flesh that mimics the
(Fig.
context of devotional on horror that our illustration of the with no recollec
contemplation newly deceased, apparent
present image will find its locus of visual agency. The six tion of the bluish black skin and desiccation of the previous
stage.47 Thus, the Raig?ji version captures the outline of the
realms of existence are treated in a set of at the
paintings
Sh?ju Raig?ji, a Tendai Buddhist temple. The images com nine stages of a female and delivers a voy
decaying corpse
the of the Essentials and in fact euristic sensationalism derived from the of
plemented agenda of Salvation, pictorialization
the scrolls have had a long association with the Pure Land the shocking motif, but it ignores textual and biological
Buddhist belief within the Tendai school. They have been accuracy in the portrayal of the process of decay as described
housed in the Tendai temples at Reisan'in (from 1313 to in doctrine, including the influential Discourse onMahayana
1538) and at Sh?ju Raig?ji (from 1566 to the present).43 This Meditation and
Contemplation.

30
&?a
4 Painting of the Impure Aspect of theHuman Realm,

late 13th century. Shiga, Sh?ju Raig?ji (photo:
Nara National Museum)

31
8 Detail of Fig. 4: discoloration and desiccation
5 Detail of Fig. 4: newly deceased
9 Detail of Fig. 4: by birds and animals

consumption
summarizes the entire section on the of the

6 Detail of Fig. 4: bones impure aspect
human realm. The summary that the was
suggests painting
created not to focus on a of the
step-by-step contemplation
decomposition process but to convey the impurity of the
human realm. A of human defilement led
deeper knowledge
to faith in Amida, as devotees from this
greater sought escape
world through rebirth in theWestern Pure Land. Hence, the
execution of the Raig?ji version was in accord with the devo
tional purpose of the section of the Essentials
companion of
Salvation, and both works were created to faith in
inspire
Amida the foulness of human existence.
by describing
The Raig?ji version has a significant pictorial element?the
cannot be texts. The
landscape?that explained by religious
7 Detail of Fig. 4: putrefaction
hilly terrain in the Raig?ji version is characterized by two
features. First, the soft contours of low hills are
noteworthy
delineated with a minimum of textured strokes executed with
a flat the hallmarks of an archaic
The has a cartouche at the
brush, style of traditional
painting rectangular upper
called yamato-e, which attained its fullest
Japanese painting
right corner with an inscription derived from Genshin's Es
in the
last quarter of the twelfth How
development century.
sentials of Salvation (Fig. 10):
ever, the attempt to create a sense of dates the
depth painting
to sometime about 1300. The was colored
The human realm has three aspects. One is the landscape mainly
impure
in dark with occasional areas in malachite
aspect. The body is largely filled with impurity. It is ocher, green.
seven tastes. Color tones between ocher and black (often with of
by of skin and nurtured six sparks
wrapped layers by
But it is entirely odorous and and red), employed in a majority of the paintings of the six realms
defiled, eventually pu
of serve to convey the of
trefies from its attributes. If it is discarded between transmigration, gloomy atmosphere
after one to seven is swollen, these defiled domains tainted violence, illness, torture,
mounds, daysthe body the by
color is changed, and the skin is peeled. Before this aspect misery, and a zoo of evils. The dark ocher in the Raig?ji
version a of barren, desolate on
is seen, the attachment to affections is strong. But, if it is provides backdrop ground
seen, all desires the cease.48

which the solitary corpse has been discarded, heightening
[for body]
the sense of man's existence. The second
transitory signifi
This is not a verbatim of the of a cant of the is the of three trees,
inscription quotation stages aspect landscape depiction
as are described in the text; rather, it each a conventional emblem of its season, the
decaying corpse they overhanging

32
11 Detail of Fig. 4: grave marker
10 Detail of Fig. 4: cartouche
for the fifth and ninth contain terms related to au

stages
tumn: sh?rin autumn rains) and akikaze (autumn wind).
(long
corpse: cherry (spring), pine (summer), and maple (au The painting
shows the maple tree
arranged directly
over the
tumn). The tree stands over the second of the fifth of the The close
cherry stage stage decaying corpse. correspondence
distended corpse, the pine over the third of the
ruptured evidences that the Raig?ji painting was created by referring
corpse, and the maple over the fourth of the corpse exuding specifically to the Su Tongpo poem rather than the K?kai
blood. The trees the of time and a version, which includes no linear of seasonal
symbolize passage provide progression
to the of the the process of
metaphoric correspondence stages corpse's changes during decay.52
The other feature of the in the
decomposition. noteworthy landscape
The salient features of the landscape in the Raig?ji version, Raig?ji painting, the desolate hills rendered mainly in ocher
desolation and seasonal trees, appear to be derived from Su and some is also described in the Su Tongpo
green, poem.
of the on the nine of For the verse for the second (distension)
Tongpo's poem contemplations stages example, stage
a decaying corpse (see App. 2) .49Although the poem was not reads,
written on the scroll, the seems to refer to its verses
painting
for the because the Discourse on Maha The distension of the newly deceased is hard to identify.
landscapes, probably
no After seven mere of the
yana Meditation and de only days, vestiges [original] ap
Contemplation gives topographical
for example, the association between pearance remain. The rosy face has turned dark and lost
scriptions.50 Consider,
its The raven hair, first withered, is now
the seasonal trees and the Su verses. The verse for elegance. tangled
Tongpo
with roots. Six are and the
the first the of the de grass organs putrefied corpse
stage eulogizes complexion newly
ceased: pushes out beyond the coffin. The limbs have hardened
and lie on the desertedfield. The field is desolate, and no one is
Usual complexion paled during sickness. Fragrant body is present. The spirit has gone to the other world in soli
as if sleeping. Beloved old friends still stay. The spirit has tude.53
already departed. A beautiful face quickly fades asflowers in

the third month. Life is brief like falling autumn leaves. No The motif of the desolate field or of green grasses beneath
or the corpse is repeated in every stanza of the poem, sometimes
difference between and old age. No escape later
youth
or in the of the accretion of tomb mounds.54 The
sooner, faster slower.51 description
Raig?ji version follows the poem in its landscapes by placing

Here, the focuses on the of the each of the in a barren, field
poem appearance corpse, stage corpse's decay undulating
which has just started to discolor, likening it to "flowers in the rendered in ocher with traces of green. At the fourth stage,
third month [that is, early spring]." The painting itself shows the poem mentions the intermingling of old and new
corpses
cherry blossoms, the harbinger of spring, falling over the beside the grave; indeed, the Raig?ji version places the aban
newly deceased body.

No clear allusion to summer follows in doned corpse beside the grave marker (Fig. 11 ) in the fourth
the verses for the stages of but the verses
subsequent decay, image.

IMAGES OF A DECAYING CORPSE IN JAPANESE BUDDHIST ART 33
Thus, a
correspondence emerges between the poetic de paradise of the Western Pure Land in the Amida Hall, all in
scriptions of the Su Tongpo verses and the painted depic accord with the method employed by the Essentials of Salva
tions of the
Raig?ji version. The
correspondence is compel tion for deepening faith in the Buddha Amida.
ling in light of the fact that the companion Buddhist sutras The
hanging
scrolls portraying the six realms of reincarna
offer no information about the landscape of this bleak scene. tion at Sh?ju Raig?ji served as powerful visual agents for the
But the resonance of the poem in the painting goes beyond exposition of Genshin's doctrine. The practice of explaining
descriptive details. The Su Tongpo poem laments the transi religious beliefs through pictorial devices, called etoki (verbal
tory aspect (muj?) of this world and human life. The evocation explanation of pictures), began around the end of the twelfth
of the seasons and the on the deso While no documents have survived to that the
changing solitary corpse century. verify
late field, integral elements of this theme, are
employed
in set at Sh?ju Raig?ji was employed in a didactic context, a
the as well. The notion of transience stems from record of the conservation dates of the documents
painting paintings
Buddhism, but the sutras on the contemplation of the decay eight restorations between 1313 and 1683.59 The frequent
ing corpse and human impurity
make no
explicit reference restoration of the set may point to its use in public for etoki
to the nature of this world.55 Yet the concept of From the twentieth the
transitory teaching. early century, paintings
impermanence is suitable for a consideration of the cycle
of have been displayed annually between the thirteenth and
life, death, and and it infuses the of the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month as of the
decay, exposition days part
scenes in the Su Tongpo poem. In its landscape and portrayal annual ritual held to deliver ancestral
spirits from the realms
of decay, the Raig?ji version conveys the allusions in the Su of suffering after death (urabon). In addition, the temple
Tongpo poem both to human impurity and to the imperma houses a script for etoki entitled the Abbreviated History of the Six
nence of everything in the earthly realm.56 Thus, the Raig?ji Realms of Existence (Rokudde sdryaku engi) that explains the
version may allow us to date the Su to as doctrines of the six realms with the use of The
Tongpo poem early paintings.60
as 1300. script was copied in 1897 at the request of a leading member
We now move to an
exploration of the functions of this of the temple, and while the date of the original is uncertain,
provocative image. The Raig?ji version of the stages of a it was likely transmitted at the temple for generations.
was one of a set of fifteen scrolls The earliest function of the of the nine was
decaying corpse hanging image stages
whose content and
inscriptions
treat the six realms of rein for the pious contemplation on human impurity by Buddhist
carnation reference to the Essentials to expunge
of Salvation.
through monks who wished the sensual desires that dis
Given this source, the of the of the nine turbed their lives of devotion. Therefore, the selec
significance image spiritual
of a was transformed tion of a woman of in the Nakamura version
stages decaying corpse substantially by exquisite beauty
its treatment within the ambit of the six realms of existence. served to enhance the image's cathartic function of
original
As we have noted, this text, authored by the Tendai monk aiding male monks in their taming of sexual desire through
Genshin, became the major work for the promulgation of viewing the stark opposition between comely beauty and
Pure Land Buddhist belief. Genshin sought to inculcate Pure repugnant decay.
In fact, a
major reference for early paint
Land Buddhist belief by juxtaposing the blissful Western ings of the nine stages of a
decaying corpse, the Discourse on
Pure Land with the pain and suffering of the six realms of Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation,
comments on the
existence, the human realm and its characteristic delusion caused the beautiful of an
including by appearance elegant
impurity (represented by the nine stages of a decaying woman and the effect of the contemplations
on the nine
Furthermore, the version the for sensual desires. The text admonishes,
corpse). Raig?ji encapsulated stages expelling
of the Discourse on Meditation and Con
descriptions Mahayana
the framework of the Essentials and the Even a woman with white
templation, of Salvation, graceful eyebrows, jadelike eyes,
pathos of the Su
Tong poem. The devotional message was teeth, and red lips is as if covered by a mixture of feces
presented in a form suitable for public edification. with fat powder,
or as if a putrefied corpse were clothed
The inclusion of the nine stages of a decaying corpse in this with silk and twill. ... a contemplation like this [on the
visual
juxtaposition
seems to have
begun about 1200. A me
impurity of a decaying corpse] is a golden remedy for
dieval temple document, the New Essential Records oftheDaigoji sensual desire.61
(Daigoji shiny?roku), records that the Enma Hall at Daigoji

(Enma was the lord of the realm of the dead), commissioned Other earlier Buddhist sutras mention that the
contempla
by Seny?mon'in (1181-1252), the sixth daughter of Emperor tion on a
corpse is effective for
curbing sensual desires, but
Goshirakawa, and completed in the twelfth month of 1223 they make

no reference to the
gender
or
appearance of the
62
(Tei? 2), displayed an image of the nine stages in itsmurals, corpse.
which were lost when the building was destroyed in 1336.57 The selection of a beautiful, aristocratic woman was linked
This textual record
provides
our earliest evidence for a de to the expression of transience in the Raig?ji version. Such an
piction of the nine stages of a
decaying corpse in the frame association is supported by the aforementioned entry in the
work of the six realms of existence. Seny?mon'in also com historical chronicle Mirror of theEastern Court for the eighth
missioned an Amida Hall in the twelfth month of 1219 day of the eleventh month of 1212 (Kenryaku 2).63 This
(Sh?ky? 1), and this structure was completed within the document recounted that a painting entitled the Flourish and
the Life of Ono no Komachi was shown at a picture
of the same Thus,
precincts temple.58 Seny?mon'in practiced Decay of
her Pure Land Buddhist faith in the opposing (yet closely competition held at the residence of the shogun Minamoto
connected) spatial and spiritual domains of renunciation of no Sanetomo.64 The title
assigned
to the
painting of the nine
the human realm in the Enma Hall and yearning for the stages of a
decaying corpse, "the flourish and decay," stems

34
from a medieval notion of transience, in rich and man and woman, crowded at the market in
deep-seated partic poor,
ular as in the lives and fortunes of women. The order to see their What saw was the
experienced corpses. they gradual
transient of women's lives form a theme in the medi of the to white bones. These two
aspects process corpses' decay
eval literary works of female authors (including the legendary empresses exposed their corpses to the public with the
Ono no Komachi), a theme fundamentally rooted in their hope that, since all will be equally impure after death,
tragic love affairs in the polygamous society.65 According to sentient beings in the Latter Days of the Buddhist Law
Buddhist doctrine, five obstacles to enlightenment and three should be awakened through exposure to the impure
kinds of required obedience (to parents, husband, and chil human condition.69
dren, after the husband's death) the woman's lamen

shaped
table lot.66 The characterization of the corpse as a There is no historical evidence to substantiate this anecdote,
decaying
beautiful, aristocratic female?an image that conveyed the but it seems to be another instance in which the identity of
of human transience?was to the new the female was in order to connect
epitome important corpse misrepresented
function of the nine stages in the Raig?ji version. In the the image with a
legendary beauty. Such attempts
to associate
painting, the two Buddhist notions of human impurity and the corpse with historical figures peaked in the eighteenth
transience were subtly and overtly integrated for didactic and nineteenth centuries. They
arose from a
popular literary
impact in the exhortation of Pure Land Buddhist belief. genre teaching the ideal way of female life that thrived be
I should point out here that the reference in the Mirror of tween the mid-sixteenth and the late seventeenth centuries.70
theEastern Court to a painting of Ono no Komachi has led to (This issue will be examined presently.)
frequent misidentifications of the female corpse in paintings It may be observed that the portrayal of a woman in the
of the nine stages, including the Raig?ji version, as the ninth
Raig?ji version had an ancillary benefit for the promulgation
century figure herself. Ono no Komachi was celebrated for of Pure Land Buddhism. In traditional Buddhist teaching,
her talent, her her her women were viewed as and inferior to men. Women
poetic stunning beauty during youth, impure
with amorous men, and her from attained salvation, even with extreme devotion, unless
trifling suffering decrepi rarely
tude and destitution in old age. The earliest tale mythologiz were transformed into men at the moment of death. But
they
ing the poet is found in the Flourish and Decay of the Life of Pure Land Buddhist doctrine, remarkably, promises that
Tamatsukuri no Komachi no Komachi sdsuisho), women could salvation as women. While the doctrinal
(Tamatsukuri gain
dated perhaps about 1200. Later, the popularity of Ono no innovation in a significant Pure Land Bud
is already evident
Komachi increased as she became the central subject of five dhist text, the Larger Sutra (Japanese: Mury?juky?, Sanskrit:
Noh plays, among which Sotoba Komachi (written by Kan'ami Sukhavati-vyuha, translated by Buddhabhadra and Baoyun
[1333-1384] or Zeami [1363-1443]) captures her hardship [375?-449], 421), its full import had to await H?nen's (1133
in her old age.67 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 1212) commentary on the sutra, dated 1190.71 Allowing the
some
paintings
of the nine stages of a
decaying corpse were salvation of women made it possible for Pure Land Buddhism
given the title The Nine Stages of Ono no KomachVs Decaying to attract devotees of both sexes. The
Raig?ji version, which
After this identification of the female as Ono was created after the of H?nen's in
Corpse. corpse just completion highly
no Komachi became established in the Edo the ca fluential also have women to
period, commentary, might inspired
daver in antecedent versions of the of the nine pursue rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Since this version
painting
stages, including the Raig?ji version, has been incorrectly and of the nine stages
was intended as an
image
for
public
in
regarded by some as a biographical struction, its audience included both men and women. The
anachronistically image
of the ninth-century poet.68 Yet it is unlikely that a Buddhist doctrinal openness of the image
to both
genders signaled
a
devotional image would center on a

specific poet and that the marked shift from the exclusively male audience of Buddhist
no Komachi
tragic,
secular female figure Ono could have monks
targeted by
the earlier type of the Nakamura version.
been portrayed in a painting produced by a temple. It ismore At this

juncture
we can consider the way in which Pure
reasonable to that the was an anonymous Land Buddhism the of this provocative
posit corpse para encouraged spread
gon of beauty and decay. The inaccurate appellation proba image of decay. Although the prototype of the Nakamura
arose from a desire audiences to establish version existed earlier, there are no textual records
bly among general probably
an for the woman in the Indeed, over of the nine of a corpse in
identity startling image. mentioning images stages decaying
the centuries, the beautiful aristocrat of the Raig?ji version Japan before about 1200. The dearth of references to the
has also been connected with other beauties. For indicates that the nine of a
legendary images stages decaying corpse
some later of the nine were were not to use before the of Pure
example, paintings stages subject popular absorption
thought to represent Empress Danrin (Emperor Saga's wife, Land Buddhism. What may have hindered broader interest in
786-850). The Abbreviated History of the Six Realms ofExistence, this theme? In medieval Japan, there were deep-seated beliefs
dated to the nineteenth comments on the female about defilement from incidents, and con
century, particular objects,
corpse of the Raig?ji version: ditions. We know from medieval records and diaries that such
threats to were and rules
purity carefully categorized given
The woman in this [Raig?ji] painting is either Empress for their expurgation.
In these
regulations,
death and the
K?my?
or
Empress Danrin. These two empresses were dead body figured among the sources of defilement cited
exceptionally beautiful during their lifetimes, and every most
frequently.72
Not
only
was the corpse
seen as unclean,
man adored them at first sight. They stipulated in their but the defilement was also considered contagious. It is un
wills that after the moment of death, their bodies should clear how a
painting
of a
corpse would have been treated in
be discarded on the field of the Western Hill. Everybody, light of these beliefs, but without an overriding religious

35
Handscroll a Osaka Museum of

12 Illustrated of the Poem of the Nine Stages of Decaying Corpse, 1527. Osaka, Dainenbutsuji (photo:
one nine, to left, with poems excised: (a) newly deceased; (b) distension; (c)
History). Stages through arranged right intervening
exudation of blood; (d) putrefaction; (e) discoloration and desiccation; (f) consumption by birds and animals; (g) whole skeleton;
(h) disjointing; (i) parched to dust.
motivation, such an
image
would not have been
produced
in The Painting of the Nine Stages at Dainenbutsuji
the taboos and peo of the nine stages of a corpse were
Japan. Breaking indigenous encouraging Images decaying produced
to face a for the sake of devotion a new the nineteenth While these retained the
ple corpse required through century.
theological foundation. In this sense, Pure Land Buddhist sensational subject, they had entirely different functions from
belief the basis that made a focused con those of the The examination of two later
provided possible early paintings.
on death and the Unlike earlier schools works will elucidate the transformation of the within
templation corpse.73 image
of Buddhism that restricted a blissful afterlife to the few of distinct religious
and cultural contexts. We turn first to the
the religious elite who succeeded in achieving liberation image of the nine stages at
Dainenbutsuji, Osaka (Fig. 12a-i,
from vicious
transmigratory cycles, Pure Land Buddhism pre 12V6 by 184Vi inches, or 30.8 by 468.6 centimeters; hereafter,
sented a new manner of devotion to Buddha Amida that the Dainenbutsuji version). The Dainenbutsuji is the head
could be managed by
even
lay devotees, thus opening salva temple of the Y?z? (all-inclusive) Nenbutsu school, founded
tion to any who practiced simple nenbutsu (to think of the by the priest Ry?nin (1072-1132). According to an inscrip
Buddha).74 In other words, devotees could now encounter tion at the end of the handscroll, the Dainenbutsuji version
death and corpses, previously untouchable, knowing that was created in 1527 (Daiei 7).75 The scroll begins with a
their proper devotion to Buddha Amida would assure them picture of the crescent moon and autumn grasses painted
in
of rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Consequently, the silver and gold pigments.76
Next is inserted a section contain
of the nine of a was created and the wavy watermark decoration that often
image stages decaying corpse ing accompanies
circulated contemporaneously
with the culmination of Pure
calligraphic verses, followed by the preface to the Su Tongpo
Land Buddhism in medieval Japan. poem (Fig. 13). Each stage of decay is then presented, with

35
scene and of the Su Tongpo from Illustrated Handscroll a

13 Initial preface poem, of the Poem of the Nine Stages of Decaying Corpse,
1527 (photo: Osaka Museum of History)
the relevant stanza of the written in Chinese charac the morning sun out the The weeds
poem, showing drying corpse.
ters, and the usual two waka, inscribed in a mixture of Chi and the pine tree in the eighth (Fig. 12h) and ninth (Fig. 12i)
nese characters and kana The echo the as well. Yet visual elements that
Japanese syllabary. calligraphy stages poem impede
of the preface and poems is executed with gilt decorations the flow of the narration as well as the
poem's conveyance of
that include seasonal and birds. The seasonal a close coordination of the
plants, landscape, change preclude picto
Dainenbutsuji version is the earliest surviving painting of the rial images and poetic
motifs. The first stage, with cherry
and
nine stages to be accompanied by both the Su Tongpo poem maple, simultaneously

connotes
spring and fall. The autum
and the waka verses. a of the nal scenes, in the second fifth and the wintry
Through graphological analysis through stages,
the writer has been identified as a aristo scenes, in the six are concluded with
poems, prominent through eighth stages,
cratic monk, J?h?ji K?jo (1453-1538), who was renowned for summer scenery (denoted by the morning glories) in the last
his skillful calligraphy.77 No records regarding the prove frame. In addition, the particular
area of the graveyard
ren
nance of the handscroll have survived, but the is dered in the does not remain constant
painting painting throughout
likely to have been located at Dainenbutsuji since the early the nine scenes, altered by the casual addition of motifs
sixteenth century. The calligrapher J?h?ji K?jo was once an corresponding

to the poem and by changes
in major land
abbot of the Kuramadera which had a associa marks (such as mountains, trees, and rocks) that convey
temple, long
tion with the Dainenbutsuji's founder, Ry?nin, and it is likely different locations. Because of the inconsistency of the land
that J?h?ji would have joined the project at the Dainenbut scapes throughout the sequence, the process of the corpse's
is unknown, but the work is attributed to the the narrative role. As we have later
suji. The painter decay plays primary noted,
studio of Kan? Motonobu (1476-1558), the second-genera renderings of the nine stages, including the Dainenbutsuji
tion head of the famed Kan? school of painters. As promi version, were often attended by both the
Su Tongpo poem
nent artists were involved in the creation of the Dainenbut and the waka.78 The two waka written near each of the nine
we may assume that an affluent must have of the version to the
suji version, patron stages Dainenbutsuji rarely pertain stage
commissioned the work. of the corpse that they The poems capture
accompany.79 only
Each in this version is placed after the relevant sub the of the pathos of transience underly
stage general atmosphere
title from right to left (see App. 1): (1) newly deceased ing the decay of the corpse. The authorship and date of the
(shinshiso); (2) distension (h?ch?s?); (3) exudation of blood waka are uncertain, but we do know that the verses were
(ketsuzusd); (4) putrefaction (h?rans?); (5) discoloration and circulated in the late fourteenth century.
desiccation (seioso); (6) consumption by birds and animals The artistic style of this version warrants
special
attention.
(shokutansd); (7) whole skeleton (hakkotsurensd); (8) disjoint The depiction of the corpse lacks both anatomical precision
ing (hakkotsusansd); (9) parched to dust (j?kes?). One distinc and a meticulous observation of the process of
decay. The
tive feature of the Dainenbutsuji version is its visual corre

eight corpses lying in changing settings look like dolls
to the Su Tongpo poem. The nine up to mark the essential The sensational
spondence accompanying propped only plot.
have the where the is softened further by the yamato-e with the
images landscapes delineating graveyard subject landscapes
dead body has been discarded, and some of the landscape skillful use of hovering fog (suyari gasumi), a traditional pic
motifs are derived from the For in the first torial device of this that unifies the scenes of the se
poem. example, style
stage of the newly deceased (Fig. 12a), both the seasonal quence
over the passage of time.80 The visual
depiction
of the
and trees are near the in an version concludes a male aristocrat

cherry maple painted corpse Dainenbutsuji byshowing
echo of the verse: "A beautiful face quickly fades as flowers in weeping
in front of four stupas (sotoba, containers for relics or
the third month. Life is brief like falling autumn leaves." In symbolic sacred objects)?an
addition
unique
to this hand
the fifth stage (Fig. 12e), the painting follows the poem by scroll (Fig. 12i).81

37
; #T
fyygp? m^m .^a?i
?of
a lower-ranked to this world, Y?iz?

14 Pious wife of monk being returned from the realm of dead from Legends of the Yuzu Nenbutsu:
Nenbutsu handscroll, ink, color, and gold on paper, 35 X 485 in. (89.7 X 1232.4cm), 14th The Cleveland Museum of
Engi, century.
Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, L. Severance Fund, Edward L. Whittemore Fund ? The Cleveland
John (photo:
Museum of Art)
The of the nine of a decaying are scroll have survived, most of them dated between the four
early images stages corpse
powerfully didactic in their graphic impact. Their visual ef teenth and fifteenth centuries, except for several nineteenth
fectiveness stems from their of human or of the earlier versions. The creation of so
exposition impurity century copies
their connection to the of the six realms of reincar versions of an illustrated handscroll the same
concept many having
nation. In
the Dainenbutsuji version, in contrast, the shock is exceptional in art and their ex
subject Japanese history,
are no articulated. The illustrations have tensive reveals the distinct function of the hand
ing details longer production
been sanitized from the grotesque instructive of scrolls within y?z? nenbutsu belief.
descriptions
the decaying in a for reflecting the atmo The characteristic of the school was that the
corpse preference teaching
and selected elements of the accompanying of a results in merit for all,
sphere poems. spiritual practice single person
The simplified illustrations of the corpses in the Dainenbut and therefore the devotional actions of a multitude increase
suji version even seem to

laugh
rather than howl in death, the salvific benefit exponentially. The religious duties o? y?z?
out of an intention to deliver the of the nenbutsu included the of oblations to itinerant
perhaps subject offering
corpse in a less hortative manner. monks who the belief. Since y?z? nenbutsu
practice
decaying preached
Let us now consider the substantial transformation of the was nonsectarian, the solicitation of was not con
offerings
image of the nine stages between about 1300 and 1527 from fined to monks of Ry?nin's lineage. However, the creation of
the standpoint of its functions and historical background. the Y?z? emaki for the purposes of outreach and solicitation
The function of the Dainenbutsuji version is illuminated by a was undertaken largely by Ry?nin's
successors. The illus
of Buddhist narrative found at the same As the trated handscrolls that the miraculous events of
genre temple. explained
seat of the Y?z? Nenbutsu school, the Dainenbutsuji temple Ry?nin 's life and of the y?z? nenbutsu
practitioners
served as
emphasized the idea of y?z?, melding different substances a way of legitimizing the spiritual efficacy of the belief and
their union new devotees.84 The Y?z? emaki became visual aids
together, bringing perfection through synergism. attracting
The coalescence of faith from nenbutsu for the of the sect's to broad
resulting chanting aggressive exposition teachings
with other devotees was to the prac strata of society, from which it could collect contributions
thought eventually bring
titioners to rebirth in the Western Pure Land. It was said that and donations. Such a scheme was uti
missionary typically
the school's founder, Ry?nin,
in order to
amplify
the
syner lized for the illustrated handscrolls at Shinto shrines and
effect encouraged all devotees to recite nenbutsu ten Buddhist temples that were widely produced from the thir
gistic
times west as a mass teenth on; indeed, the handscroll became a
every morning facing thaumaturgie century signifi
The faith was among Buddhists regardless
cant medium for garnering capital, particularly under the
practice. popular
of sectarian affiliation, but itwas not until 1661 that the y?z? Ashikaga military government (1336-1571), when Buddhist
nenbutsu belief became an official Buddhist school.82 which had under the estate system of
temples, prospered
Art historically, the school is best known for the Y?z? landholding backed by the authority of the central govern
nenbutsu engi emaki (Illustrated Handscrolls of theLegends of Y?z? ment, could expect little financial support from the weak
Nenbutsu; hereafter, the Y?z? emaki). Since the of ened court.

production
the first two volumes of the handscroll in 1314, the same A
representative preface
of one Y?z? emaki reveals this aim:
format and subject have been painted repeatedly.83 In illus

trations and texts, the first volume narrates the The monks and who heard about the miraculous
calligraphic laity,
life of while the second volume the and the fortunate wished for the same. If
Ry?nin, depicts auspi power examples,
cious and miraculous events that befell the practitioners of they make bonds [through y?z? nenbutsu teaching] by
nenbutsu 14). versions of the hand nenbutsu and their names, they will be
y?z? (Fig. Twenty-eight practicing writing

3g
free from all misfortune during this life, and they will nal power of nenbutsu, which is able to save the deceased from
attain their desire for salvation in the next life. . . .The the of the six realms of existence.91
suffering
intention for painting the teaching of the y?z? nenbutsu is Several versions of Yuzu emaki have survived at the head
to foster belief among the male and female

laity.85 quarters of the Y?z? Nenbutsu school at Dainenbutsuji. The
scrolls point to the significance of the medium in expound
We see here that the of the handscrolls, from the stand nenbutsu and in and some
goal ing practice attracting supporters,
of the was to create and ties be versions also attest to their use as
point temple, strengthen by wealthy patrons prayers
tween the
temple
and its
financially supportive devotees. The for the deceased. One print version at the temple dated 1391
content of the Y?z? emaki centered on two kinds of stories. was commissioned a named Minomori
by military governor
One recounts how the nenbutsu was to who ordered the copy as a prayer for the salvation
type y?z? expounded Sukekage,
rich and poor, male and female, and of his parents. A later version, dated before 1489, believed to
many people, clergy
laity, all of whom attained salvation

through
nenbutsu prac have been copied by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshinao (r. 1473
tice. Stories of the other type tell how practitioners
were 89), likely served as his prayer for some deceased kin.
protected by Buddhist deities, such as Amida and Bisha In light of this background, the function of the painting of
monten (Sanskrit: Vaisravana), and relate the ways in the nine at can be understood
they stages Dainenbutsuji correctly.
which the of nenbutsu miracles, such as The handscroll one of the six realms of reincarnation
power y?z? wrought depicts
the revival of a monk's wife from the realm of the dead (Fig. (the human realm), as well as the
unique
scene of a male
14) and the recovery of a cowherd's wife from a difficult aristocrat praying before the stupas in the ninth stage (Fig.
It is worth that this latter of em 15). While the mentions that
delivery. noting type story accompanying poem unspeci
the miracles that befell female devotees, and such a fied individuals be at the tomb, the illustra
phasized may mourning
reflected the school's desire to broadcast the tion shows a male aristocrat who must be a me
predilection conducting
new faith to all. morial service for the deceased, a mother or wife, in
perhaps
The format of the Y?z? emaki handscrolls was order to save her from the realm of suffering. The illustra
compact
handy for the itinerant priests who urged people to perform tions of human decay from the first through eighth stages
meritorious acts, donations to the consequences of the vicious of human
including making temples.86 emphasize cycle
In their travels, these priests would preach the content of the life and death deriving from karmic effect. The last illustra
scrolls in their solicitation of funds. Documents detail the tion suggests the merits of constructing stupas and offering
activities of the itinerant priests through the seventeenth prayers (nenbutsu) for the deceased and, more
broadly,
con
century. For the Diary of Sanjdnishi Sanetaka (Sane notes the performance of a memorial service for the salvation
example,
taka koki), in entries for the eighth month of 1510 (Eisho 7), of the dead. With the shift in function from frightening
reports, "The monk Ry?en brought the Y?z? emaki [to the viewers with the impure
state of flesh to
performing the
Sanj?nishi residence], and it was returned on the following memorial service, the realistic, grotesque images
seen in
and each devotee was listed in the record."87 Solicitations earlier versions of the nine became unnecessary. As the
day, stages
that utilized paintings of miracles and spiritual efficacy were subject of corporeal decay
was executed
by
a
painter
in a
successful, and in fact the nenbutsu belief attracted not artistic studio, the theme was absorbed into the reli
y?z? leading
commoners but also many courtiers and aristocrats. The fashions of the illustrated hand
only gious early-sixteenth-century
names of wealthy were inscribed in the various Y?z? scrolls. In the version, the illustrations, with
patrons Dainenbutsuji
emaki.88 their elegant calligraphy and decorative gold motifs, satisfied
Recent has revealed that several versions of the the wealthy commissioner who wished to save the deceased
scholarship by
Y?z? emaki were created for memorial rites, and these were the nenbutsu
performing yuzu, practice.
commissioned, with prayers for the salvation of the
along
deceased, by renowned
patrons.89 Thus, from the
early goals Paintings of the Nine Stages in Edo Printed Books
of propagation and solicitation, the functionality of the Y?z? The image of stages the nine to be created continued
emaki evolved to a later of prayer for the salvation of through the nineteenth century. The General Index
offap??ese
objective
a deceased The can be Books (Kokusho sdmokuroku) records seven versions of
particular practitioner. development surviving
readily understood within the thaumaturgie paradigm of the books on the the seven
woodblock-printed subject.92 Among
y?z? nenbutsu belief, and the salvation of the dead through versions, five are dated between the seventeenth and nine
merit transfer is highlighted in the Statement Urging People to teenth centuries and two are undated. The numerous surviv
Perform Meritorious Acts (Y?z? nenbutsu kanjinjd), probably writ als indicate that the image was made in this different format
ten in the late thirteenth The document states, for and also that the notion of the
century.90 popular consumption,
"The devotees who want to memorial services for nine was circulated the Edo
perform stages actively during period.93
parents, teachers, elders, wives, and children can write their The woodblock-printed books on the subject may be divided
names in this record and recite nenbutsu. The merit will then into two groups. The first group includes those books offer
be given to the dead, a merit that is profound and equal to ing serious Buddhist interpretations of the nine stages from
the karma The not de the of on and tran
through self-practice." passage only perspective contemplations impurity
scribes how the miraculous of the all-inclusive nenbutsu sience. In these works, the nine are treated with full
power stages
can extend to the deceased, but it also offers further motiva page illustrations, followed by the Su Tongpo verses and the
tion to the readers. are to memo usual two waka. The are and followed
They encouraged perform stages preceded by
rial services for the rebirth of the deceased in the Western extensive explanations of the pertinent
doctrinal and literary
Pure Land. The salvific effect is derived from the phenome sources. The books are entitled Kus?shi genkai (Colloquial

15 A male aristocrat in
mourning
front of four stupas at the ninth stage,
from Illustrated Handscroll of thePoem of
theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse, 1527 - ------
Explanation of thePoems on theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse) occurs in the various titles of all surviving printed
versions
and Kusdshi eshd (Illustrations of thePoems on theNine Stages of a from the Edo period, which may be considered anthologies
Decaying Corpse). The latter, dated to 1810 (Bunka 7), is a with inserted illustrations. The Akagi version devotes its first
revision of the former, dated to 1694 (Genroku 7), and two pages to the preface of the Su Tongpo poem and then
authored the monk San'unshi. These volumes were seri moves to the stanzas and for the nine stages (see App.
by images
ous texts for lay believers, and this purpose is reinforced by 1): (1) newly deceased (shinshisd); (2) distension (h?ch?s?); (3)
the preface
to the Kusdshi genkai, in which San'unshi translit exudation of blood (ketsutosd); (4) putrefaction (h?rans?); (5)
erated the Su Tongpo poem into the Japanese syllabary and consumption by birds and animals (tanshokusd); (6) discolor
supplemented
it with illustrations to facilitate comprehen
ation and desiccation (seiosd); (7) whole skeleton (hakkotsu
sion. Both versions were sold in front of the Chion'in, a rens?); (8) disjointing (kotsusansd); and (9) tumulus (kofunsd).
temple in Kyoto, at a bookstore that specialized in Buddhist Its order differs with that of the Dainenbutsuji version, which
sutras and commentaries.94 also follows the Su Tongpo poem, in that the fifth and sixth
The second group of Edo woodblock-printed books in stages
are
interchanged,
and the ninth stage (parched
to
cludes all books entitled only Kusdshi (Poems on theNine Stages dust) has been replaced by the tumulus.98 This order is the
of a Decaying Corpse)95 and comprises the earliest surviving same as that found in all other Edo books on the subject.
woodblock-printed
books on the nine stages. These volumes Each Su Tongpo verse fills its page, and on the adjacent pages
simply provide the nine illustrations with relevant stanzas of we find the two waka in the upper half with the relevant
the Su Tongpo poem and the waka, offering
no
supplemental
illustration below (Fig. 17). The Su Tongpo poetry of the
The are in clear charac Kusoshi is in clear, blockish characters, while the waka
commentary. poems printed large, printed
ters, but humorous illustrations. verses in a mixture of cursive characters and kana
accompanied by sketchy appear
Such qualities reveal a completely different audience and syllables. Most of the Chinese characters of the Su Tongpo
as the for these volumes. We will examine one verses are kana. Hence, the Akagi version is cate
objective target glossed by
book from this group in the former Akagi Bunko Collection gorized
as an
example of the contemporary literary genre of
(Fig. 16a-i; hereafter, the Akagi version) dated to the Keian kana booklets (kana zdshi), which consisted of popular novels
era (1648-52).96 Our study will illuminate the further devel and essays for pleasure reading printed
with the comprehen
of the in the modern sible kana The to literature
opment genre early period. syllabary.99 counterpart scholarly
We begin by noting the distinct features of the Akagi and classics written in Chinese characters, this popular liter
version.97 The title Kusdshi suggests that the prime focus of ary genre emerged
at the same time that a new economy
the work is the rather than the The term kusdshi for widespread elementary education
poem image. brought opportunities

40
16 Illustrations from the woodblock-printed book Kusdshi (Poems on the Nine a 1648-52. Former
Stages of Decaying Corpse), Tokyo,
Bunko Collection (from Kinsei Shoshi Kinsei vol. 10, 505-28. one
Akagi Bungaku Kenky?kai, bungaku shiryd ruij?, Stages through
nine, arranged right to left: (a) newly deceased; (b) distension; (c) exudation of blood; (d) putrefaction; (e) consumption by birds
and animals; (f) discoloration and desiccation; (g) whole skeleton; (h) disjointing; (i) tumulus.
and a increase of and leisure tures of this subordinate role of the are seen in the
consequent literacy reading. images
The of efficient woodblock Akagi version.
contemporaneous development
led to an of material First, the illustrations in the Edo texts on the nine
printing techniques explosion reading stages
for the the kana booklets, show an artistic to reflect both the Su Tongpo poem
populace, including produced attempt
between about 1600 and 1680. In the first half century of and the waka. This dual reference is not seen in the Dainen
their production, the kana booklets, usually didactic in na butsuji version, in which the illustrations ignore the content
ture, were authored educated of the waka verses. In the version, five of the nine
typically by people, among Akagi
them courtiers, lesser samurai, scholars, and Buddhist priests.
illustrations (the first, second, sixth, eighth, and ninth stages)
The monochrome the ver at least one element from both the Su Tongpo
prints accompanying Akagi incorporate
sion's text coarse sketches of the nine of the and waka poems. For the illustration of the sixth
provide stages example,
decomposition process. The rough portrayal of both human stage (Fig. 16f) depicts the morning sun (chdtan) as it shines
and the indicates not the artist's incom on the on the men
anatomy landscape corpse lying still-green spring grasses
petence but rather the intention to fashion the images in the tioned in the Su Tongpo poem (stanza 5, line 3, see App. 2).
way the book was to be
enjoyed.100
The precursor of kana The illustration includes a mass of black hair that is the main
booklets, otogi zdshi (companion books), were typically viewed theme of the first waka. The illustration of the eighth stage
by
a
community of listeners, and the elaborate, colorful im (Fig. 16h) includes the "decomposed head" from the Su
ages played a significant didactic role for audiences that may Tongpo poem (stanza 8, line 2) and the cattail (obana) from
have been illiterate. In contrast, kana book the first waka. The three stages, of
mass-produced remaining patently simple
lets were read the of literate individuals. accommodate the content of the Su Tongpo or
by growing group depiction,
The illustrations served as to the texts, as the waka Thus, the and abstract treatment
supplements poems. largely simple
became subordinate to the poems. Two fea of the treatment that nonetheless
figures specific corpse's decay?a incorpo

IMAGES OF A DECAYING CORPSE IN JAPANESE BUDDHIST ART 4J
17 of the stage
Pages
of exudation of blood,
from Kusdshi, 1648-52
rates from the demanded the to instruct women in the ways of proper conduct on the basis
specific images poems?was by
subordinate role of the illustrations to the text. of Buddhist teaching. This type was prevalent through the
Second, the Akagi version offers a loose of second half of the seventeenth when women's edu
only portrayal century,
human Its cursory of the eliminates cation became more informed Confucian Ex
anatomy. depiction body by teachings.
the sense of the grotesque and offers a risible treatment of
amples of such didactic works include the Two Nuns (Ninin
the process of
corporeal decay. The second stage (Fig. 16b) bikuni, written by Suzuki Sh?san, 1664), the Seven Nuns
depicts
the
panels
of a wooden coffin
exploded by the swol (Shichinin bikuni, 1635), and the Tale in Ogura (Ogura monoga
len corpse. Although the illustration recalls the Su Tongpo tari, 1661). In these stories, the main female characters un
verse, "six organs are and the out an that readers about the tran
putrefied corpse pushes dergo experience enlightens
beyond the coffin" (stanza 2, line 3), the bursting of the sitory
nature of human existence, and in the end, many of the
coffin by the bloated body of the cartoonlike figure seems to protagonists become nuns. Thus, these stories, after question
have aimed for a humorous No other extant ver life in the human realm, focus on women's
response. ing enlighten
sion of the nine stages depicts the broken coffin. The fifth ment.
stage (Fig. 16e) reveals the artist'splayful intent more out of the education of women, the
clearly. Developed growing
In this of and are a
stage consumption by birds animals, the artist stories characterized by pervasive undercurrent stress
has the with a scarecrow, with the for female Their didactic
replaced corpse complete ing potential enlightenment.
stalks for legs and feet. In the sixth stage (Fig. 16f), although import encompasses salient aspects of Buddhist doctrine,
the corpse
gaunt consists of only bones and skin, it is covered the traditional notion of human transience. In this
especially
a sudden excess of black hair. These comical treatments of context, the of the nine of a
by subject stages decaying corpse
the process also stemmed from the diminu was considered a story that could lead to
decomposition likely enlightenment
tion of the role of visual which earlier had been for the number of female readers of kana booklets. In
imagery, large
necessary to viewers to embrace Buddhist convie fact, the tale entitled Two Nuns the nine of a
inspire employs stages
tions.101 corpse in its plot as a for
decaying life-changing experience
What, then, is the of this render the main female character, the wife of Suda Yahei.102 After
functionality Edo-period
ing of the nine stages? The Akagi version belongs to the her husband's death on the battlefield, the wife lives with a
kana-booklet genre, so we may our woman who has also lost her husband to war. When her
begin investigation by
identifying the target audience of the booklets. In this genre housemate becomes sick and dies and the throw the
villagers
of the Edo
period, many books were
produced
for the moral corpse into a field without holding a burial service, she
education of women. The instructional texts in feminine witnesses the of the The
process corpse's decay. experience
morality
can be divided into two types. One group was de becomes the turning point of her life, leading her to become
to and women toward conduct and a mendicant. She then visits an old, virtuous nun in the
signed guide girls proper
often to Chinese and female mountains and, after a series of with her,
etiquette, referring Japanese religious dialogues
exemplars. The other type of text utilized a
dialogue
format the wife of Suda Yahei becomes enlightened and dies with the

42
of salvation. In the Two Nuns, the nine serve as enment in which realized were foolish, corrected
promise stages they they
the crucial that the for en their mistakes, behaved and nenbutsu.
experience provides opportunity moderately, practiced
and future salvation to
femalethe In the Two Nuns and his sermons, Suzuki Sh?san utilized the
lightenment protagonist.
Since such stories the enlightenment of women of a to make women aware of their
emphasized story decaying corpse
with to the nature of life in the human realm, their innate defiled and inferior status and to turn them
regard body
ultimate to have been female readers toward which would lead them to libera
goal appears turning enlightenment,
into good Buddhist practitioners. tion.107
Indeed, the Edo period

saw the emergence of written I propose, then, that the Akagi version of the decaying
for the conduct of women. In the interest of was directed at female readers. In fact, one of
precepts proper corpse mainly
social the administration wanted the books at the Waseda has the
harmony, shogunal military surviving University Library
to the hierarchical nature of the household. name of a woman added to the inside of the
strengthen They woodcut-printed
therefore the and the circulation of back cover, the seal of the book's owner. The name
encouraged production clearly
moral instructions that women to become ideal wives. reads for) or These women
guided ganshu (prayer Chiyoi Tomoyoi.
A national canon of social morality The tactic of readers a marked in audience from the
developed. signal change previ
these moral tracts until the mid-seventeenth was ous versions of the nine of a
century stages decaying corpse.
indoctrinated morals to the Our of of the nine from the thirteenth
transparent: they by referring study images stages
innate of women as in Buddhist teach to the seventeenth centuries has revealed their transforma
inferiority presented
For the view that women faced five obstacles tive at the nexus of literature, and
ings. example, functionality religion,
for salvation and had to submit to three kinds of In the of Japanese art his
attaining politics. chronological panorama
obedience was reasserted. The encumbrance of these barriers this a rare case of a narrative
tory, image represents single,
to salvation the rationale for women to
adopt
a
high Buddhist subject being painted and distributed beyond the
provided
level of feminine sects and monasteries for a of uses. While the
morality. variety image
The new direction of moral education for women is nicely was realized in different contexts with distinct purposes, two
exemplified by the change in a literary genre called stories of features recur: the visual sensationalism of depicting a
decay
the attainment of rebirth in the Pure Land and the fundamental Buddhist of human
(?j?den, hereafter, ing corpse concept
stories of between the twelfth and the seventeenth transience. These two elements motivated the consistent pro
rebirth)
centuries. In the twelfth the stories of rebirth showed duction of the over the centuries. Since the arrival of
century image
how women could attain rebirth in the Pure Land by
sincere Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century, the notion of human
and devoted Buddhist in the transience became in the cultural con
practices.103 By comparison, deeply ingrained
stories of rebirth of the seventeenth such as the sciousness, and the idea found its most and direct
century, striking
Stories of Clergy and Laity Who Attained Their Rebirth in thePure manifestation in the
images
of the nine stages. The
depic
Land (Shibyaku ?j?den, 1688, by Ry?chi) and the Modern Stories tions of corporeal decay delineate the destiny of the physical
of theAttainment ofRebirth in thePure Land (Kinsei ?j?den, 1694, and the mysterious transitional state between
body portray
women could not be reborn in the Pure Land this and the other worlds. At each of the theme's
by My?shun), juncture
In order to attain their salva function over the the a
solely by Buddhist practices.104 centuries, images played redeeming
tion, also had to be honest, obedient, merciful, role as viewers to the gap between
they gentle, sought bridge ephemeral
and attributes of the wife human existence and a restful afterlife. the nine
filially pietistic, patient?all perfect Although
and mother.105 the stories of rebirth were written to are treated in many Buddhist sutras, no other
Although stages pictorial
attract women to Buddhism with the of salvation, we the sequence of the decaying
promise examples illustrating complete
see that Buddhist teaching merged with the broader political corpse have survived in other Asian countries. This remark
of the for an en able distribution attests to a visual agency that was conceived
agenda Tokugawa regime developing
trenched and nurtured in the matrix of Japanese culture.
patriarchy. idiosyncratic
The new mode of and moral instruction is repre
religious
Zen monk Suzuki author of the tale of
sented by the Sh?san,
the Two Nuns mentioned earlier.106 He Buddhism to Fusae Kanda, a at Harvard received
taught postdoctoral fellow University,
women within a new of belief and behavior with a her doctorate Yale University. She is currently a book
dynamic from completing
central message:
women were to observe the moral precepts
on the salvific images off ap??ese Buddhism [Reischauer Institute of
or be unable to reside in the Western Pure Land. Harvard 1737 Cam
they would Japanese Studies, University, Cambridge St.,
Salvation came after women reached a level of Mass. 02138,
only enlight bridge, fusae.kanda@aya.yale.edu].

Appendix 1 Synopsis of the Nine Stages of a Decaying Corpse as Found in Images and Texts
Work Stage 1
Images
Nakamura version distension rupture exudation of putrefaction discoloration and consumption by

newly
14th deceased* blood desiccation birds and
(early century)
animals
version (ca. distension rupture exudation of putrefaction discoloration and consumption by

Raigoji newly
1300) deceased blood desiccation birds and
animals
version distension exudation of discoloration and consumption by skeleton

Dainenbutsuji newly putrefaction
(1527) deceased blood desiccation birds and
animals
version (ca. distension exudation of consumption by discoloration and skeleton

Akagi newly putrefaction
1650) deceased blood birds and desiccation
animals
Poems
Kukai poem of the newly distension discoloration and suppuration putrefaction integrity of the skeleton
nine deceased desiccation skeleton's clavicle rens?)
stages (ca. 825?) (h?ch?s?) (h?jins?) (h?rans?) (hakkotsu
(shinshisd) (seios?) (sakotsu nao
tsuranarerus?)
Su Tongpo poem of distension exudation of discoloration and consumption by skeleton

newly putrefaction
the nine stages (ca. deceased (h?ch?s?) blood (h?rans?) desiccation birds and (kotsurens?)
1075?) (shinshisd) (ketsuzus?) (seios?) animals
(tanshokus?)
Texts
on the True deceased distension discoloration and rupture (kaiso) exudation of consumption by
Chapters putrefaction
(shis?) (ch?s?) desiccation (n?rans?) blood worms
Meaning ofMahayana
Teachings (Daij? gish?, (seios?) (ketsuzumans?) (ckushokus?)
before 592)
Discourse on the Great distension rupture exudation of discoloration and consumption by dismemberment
putrefaction
Wisdom (Dai chidoron, (ch?s?) (kais?) blood (n?rans?) desiccation animals and (sans?)
ca. 402); Discourse on (ketsuzus?) (seios?) birds
Mahayana Meditation (tans?)

and Contemplation
(Maka shikan, after
594); Explanations of
the Doctrines on
Meditation for
Enlightenment
(Shakuzen haramitsu
shidai h?mon, before
597)

Appendix 1 Continued
Texts Stage 1
Discourse on theWay distension discoloration remains after mess detaching

of putrefaction rupture
(h?ch?s?) and (h?rans?) (dankais?) consumption by (sanransd) (zanshaku
Purity (Seij?d?ron,
mid-5th desiccation birds and risansd)
century)***
(seios?) animals
(shokuzans?)
Gate to the Realm distension discoloration rupture exudation of putrefaction consumption by dismemberment
Entry
and blood birds and
of Ultimate Reality (ch?s?) (kais?) (n?rans?) (sans?)
shidai desiccation (ketsuzumans?) animals
(Hokkai
hatsumon, 6th (seios?) (tansd)
century)
Essential deceased distension rupture (kaiso) consumption exudation of discoloration and putrefaction
Meanings of
blood desiccation
the Lotus Sutra (My?h? (shis?) (ch?s?) by birds and (n?rans?)
6th animals (ketsuzumans?) (seios?)
rengeky? gengi,
century) (tans?)
distension discoloration exudation of bones

Essentials of Salvation putrefaction consumption by consumption by
and (n?rans?) blood birds and worms (hakkotsus?)
(Oj?y?shu, 985)** (h?ch?s?)
desiccation (n?ketsus?) animals (chushokus?)
(seios?) (tanshokus?)
of
Great Wisdom Sutra distension consumption putrefaction bones ridges of bones dismemberment disjointing
after and sinews bones
(Dai hannya and by birds and (kairans?) exposed (shisetsu bunris?)
haramittaky?, 7th discoloration animals rupture (kotsusa kinrens?) (hakkotsu
century) (h?ch?seios?) (shakutans?) (nikuri bunsans?)
kotsugens?)
Sutra on the Samadhi discoloration exudation of consumption by shrinkage into a dismemberment

newly putrefaction
and blood birds and bundle of
Contemplation of the deceased (h?j?s?) (kossetsu bunris?)
Oceanlike Buddha (shinshis?) desiccation (n?ketsus?) animals firewood
(Bussetsu Kanbutsu (seios?) (shoku fush?s?) sokushins?)

zanmai kaiky?, ca.
400)
discoloration distension exudation of
Sutra of the Essentials putrefaction rupture consumption by consumption by
Meditation and (h?ch?s?) (n?rans?) (hakais?) blood birds and worms
of
desiccation animals
(Zeny?gy?, before (ketsuzus?) (chushutsus?)
220)*** (seios?) (shokuzans?)
*The Nakamura version its sequence with a

begins predeath portrait.
**Genshin does not number the order of the of decay in nine but for I have enumerated his sequence. See
process stages, expediency, O
Watanabe Kaigyoku, eds., Taishd shinsh? daizokyd, 85 vols. (Tokyo: Taish? Issaiky? Kank?kai, 1924-34), vol. 84, 38b-c.
***This text includes ten
exceptionally stages.

The flesh lies on still

Appendix 2 remaining
The remnants of skin
half-green
become bluish
spring
black
grasses.
before the wind.
evening
Contemplation on theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse As autumn rains wash the skin the bones
away, finally
Attributed to Su Tongpo (translated by the author) When the morning sun rises, the are
appear. rays
(1) Newly Deceased
about to the head.
pierce
Unwillingly it is becoming another object in the field

Usual sickness. body
complexion paled during Fragrant with this How will it circulate
appearance. painfully
is as if sleeping.
in the world after death for a long time!
Beloved old friends still stay. The spirit has already
departed.
A beautiful face quickly fades as flowers in the third (6) Consumption by Birds and Animals
month. Life is brief like autumn leaves.
falling rare visitors in the there is life; the beasts
Despite field,
No difference between and old age. No escape
youth for the cannot be forbidden.
competing corpse
later or sooner, faster or slower.
The is swollen and the are
corpse putrefied organs
in the The sounds of and
apparent morning. tigers
(2) Distension wolves are heard in the
eating evening.
Hungry dogs are barking in the cemetery. Greedy birds

The distension makes the deceased hard to iden
newly are in the abandoned
gathering grove.
After seven mere of the
tify. only days, vestiges The desire that flourishes in this world is a dream of
[original] appearance remain.
dreams. But how can we blame desire?
The rosy face has turned dark and lost its The
elegance.
raven hair, first withered, is now with grass
tangled
(7) Skeleton
roots.
Six are and the corpse out

organs putrefied pushes Even a stone has to be set the
though single yet up,
beyond the coffin. The limbs have hardened and continues to rot. Five are still con
corpse parts
lie on the deserted field.
nected to the
body.
The field is desolate, and no one is present. The spirit A broken, sits at the side of the
drinking cup, pillow.
has gone to the other world in solitude.
Tatters of the robe cover the the rest
barely body;
is transformed into dust.
(3) Exudation of Blood The corpse used to be a
courtly beauty, but is now a
skeleton in the desolate field.

Bones are broken, and sinews have Now, the The moon over the field is misty in the clouds and rain.
ruptured.
corpse is in a north province. The appearance has the night it is a spirit protecting the
Through
changed, and it is beyond any thoughts. corpse that cries aloud.
The rotten skin has destroyed the face with beautiful
The blood exudes from the
eyebrows. suddenly (8) Disjointing
inner organs.
putrefied
Transience in this world appears with time. of The scarce covers the bones. Since some are
Impurity ivy finally
the emerges at this moment. scattered and others are their
body spread apart, origin
At this time, close friends abandon the and leave cannot be traced.
body
it in vain. It is as if the sad, cold wind ismourning. The nails and hair are strewn all over, the field.
filling
The head is in the weeds.
decomposed
(4) Putrefaction Year by year, rainy evenings
at the western canyon have
the corpse. The storm at Mount Tai scat
decayed
Even if the ocean can cleanse, at the of putrefac tered it
stage everywhere.
tion, how can it? the corpse was transformed into dust in
Immediately
White maggots
are
crawling inside. Countless green the field of Longmen. Who knows if [the person]
flies are active on the corpse. thrived or withered, or whose coffin this is.
Wind transmits the smell to far distances. The moon
lights the naked corpse in the long night. (9) Tumulus

How sad are the old and new bones beside the grave.
They have accumulated, but nobody knows their All five principles [Sanskrit: skandha] are originally val
names. ueless. What causes us to love the present body?
The spirits that were protecting the hill have flown away
(5) Discoloration and Desiccation to the
evening
moon. The
incapable spirits, having
lost their bodies, whistle in the autumn wind.
What a beside the accreted tomb mounds. The At the hill, the name is inscribed, but the human
pity, pine
countenance has and the form is gone. The bones are transformed into dust
finally disappeared,
ridges
of the sinews and joints
are shown. in the grassy field.

46 ART BULLETIN MARCH 2005 VOLUME LXXXVII NUMBER 1
The on the stone stele is weathered and Daigoji in 1223. While the authenticity of the K?kai version is ques
inscription
tionable, the stylistic similarity of the poem to K?kai's known works
Above all, must the
illegible. wailing accompany has been acknowledged; see Nakamura Tanio, "Kus?shi emaki no
"
tomb mound. seiritsu, in Gaki z?shi, Jigoku z?shi, Yamai no s?shi, Kus?shi emaki, ed.
Akiyama Ken et al., Nihon emaki taisei, vol. 7 (Tokyo: Ch??
K?ronsha, 1977), 167. In contrast, Kawaguchi Hisao believes that this
work is authentic; see Kawaguchi Hisao, Etoki no sekai: Tonk? karano
kage (Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, 1981), 217. The provenance of Su Tongpo's
Notes poetry has also been problematic. Aoki Kiyohiko conjectures that the
Su Tongpo version is likely a revision of the K?kai version, given their
Iwould like to thank the audience of the Japan Forum at Harvard University, similar phraseology and the decreased of the latter. Yet
sophistication
November 21, 2003, and the anonymous readers of The Art Bulletin for their the K?kai version itself has been considered it was
suspicious, because
helpful comments on this study. I am also grateful to Nakamura Atsuko, included in the Zoku henj? hokki sh?ry?sh? hoketsush?, which was com
Osawa Kenichi, and Tsuji Yasuhiko for their help in obtaining access to the
piled in 1079 as a replacement for the three original lost volumes of
artifacts and for arranging the photo permissions. This article is dedicated to "Kus?kan no bun
K?kai's ten-volume Sh?ry?sh?. See Aoki Kiyohiko,
the memory of the late Professor Nakamura the former owner of the
Tanio, gaku," Musashino joshi daigaku kiy?, no. 11 (1966): 58-59; and Naka
scroll that now bears his name. Professor Nakamura purchased the Illustrated mura, "Kus?shi emaki no seiritsu," 167.
Handscroll of thePoem of theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse from a gallery just 8. For the K?kai poem in the Zoku henj? hokki sh?ry?sh? hoketsush?, see
after being drafted into military service during World War II, and he was the
first scholar to publish a study of this subject. Sanky? shiki and Sh?ry?sh?, Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 71 (To
kyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1965), 460-68. For the Su Tongpo version of
Unless indicated otherwise, translations are mine.
the poem, see Akiyama et al., Gaki z?shi, 110-19. See also my transla
1. The subject of the nine stages of a decaying tion in Appendix 2.
corpse is found in eleven
Buddhist works. They are listed here by their Japanese titles, along 9. See Aoki Kiyohiko, "Hanpon kus?shi seiritsuk?," Bukky? bungaku, no.
with the Sanskrit original, when known, or with the corresponding 2 (1978): 66.
Chinese title: Kanbutsu zanmai kaiky? (Chinese: Guanfo sanmei hai jing,
trans. Buddhabhadra [359-429], ca. 400); Dai chidoron (Sanskrit:
10. "Ayashi no otoko miyazukae no hima ni fuj?kan wo korasu koto" (A
suspicious monk contemplated on impurity in his spare time), in
Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra, trans. Kum?raj?va [344-413]); Maka shikan
Kankyo no tomo, ed. Minobe Shigekatsu (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1974),
(Chin.: Mohe zhiguan, by Zhiyi [538-597]); Shakuzen haramitsu shidai
111-19.
homon (Chin.: Shichan bolomi cidi famen, by Zhiyi); My?h? rengeky? gengi
11. The area of Rendaino (southwest of Mount Funaoka in Kyoto) was
(Chin.: Miaofa lianhuajing xuanyi, by Zhiyi); Hokkai shidai hatsumon
(Chin.: Fajie cidi chumen, by Zhiyi); Daij? gish? (Chin.: Dachengyizhang, well known at that time for its cemeteries.
by Hui Yuan [523-592]); Dai hannya haramittaky? (Skt.: 12. The condition of the medieval cemeteries is graphically captured by a
Mahaprajn?paramita-s?tra, trans. Xuanzang [600-664]); Oj?y?sh? (by scene of the late-twelfth-century illustrated handscroll the Hungry
Genshin, 985); Poem of the Contemplation on theNine Stages of a Decaying Ghost, in the Tokyo National Museum. Tales of abandoned corpses
Corpse (attributed to Su Tongpo [1063-1101]); Poem of the Contempla
appear in the story collections Konjaku monogatari (1077), Shasekish?
tion on theNine Stages of a Decaying Corpse (attributed to K?kai [774 (1279), and Hachiman gud?kun (1302).
835]). The account in the Oj?y?sh? does not give a numbered se
13. Abi daruma dai bisharon, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daiz?ky?, vol. 27,
quence, but nine stages of decay are related. In addition to the
205b. This sutra does not list the nine stages of corporeal decay but
aforementioned works, two sutras describe the decay of a corpse in
rather a method for contemplating on the impurity of a decaying
ten stages: the Zeny?gy? (Chin.: Chan yao jing, trans, before 220) and
the Seij?d?ron (Skt.: Visuddhimagga, trans. Buddhaghosa [b. ca. 400]). corpse.
Further, the Zenpiy?h?ky? (Chin.: Chan miyaofa jing, trans. Kum?raj?va 14. Hosshinsh?, Dai nihon bukky? zensho, vol. 147, ed. Zaidan h?jin Su
[344-413]) includes a contemplation on the decay in thirty complex zuki gakujutsu zaidan(Tokyo: K?dansha, 1972), 214b-216a.
steps. See App. 1 for the ordering of the stages of decay in these 15. Senj?sh? (vol. 6, chap. 8) also tells the story of a monk's intense con
sources. In addition, the contemplations on a decaying corpse and on the impurity of a decaying
templation corpse. See Senj?sh?, Dai
the contemplation on white bones are included in other meditation nihon bukky? zensho, vol. 91, ed. Zaidan h?jin Suzuki gakujutsu
manuals dated about 400, such as the Darumatara zenky? (Chin.: Damo zaidan (Tokyo: K?dansha, 1972).
duoluo chanjing, trans. Buddhabhadra), the Zazen sanmaiky? (Chin.:
16. Zhiyi, My?h? rengeky? gengi, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daiz?ky?, vol.
Zuochan sanmei jing, trans. Kum?raj?va), the Zenh? Y?ge (Chin.: Chanfa
33, 727a.
yaojie, trans. Kum?raj?va), the Shiyui ryakuy?h? (Chin.: Siwei l?eyao fa,
trans. Kum?raj?va), and the Gomon zengy?y?y?h? (Chin.: Wumen chan 17. For the poem by Baoji, see Kawaguchi, Etoki no sekai, 213-14.
jing yaoyong fa, trans. Dharmamitra [fifth century]). 18. Baoji's farewell poem has survived, but it has not been confirmed
2. Bussetsu kanbutsu zanmai kaiky?, in Takakusu Junjir? and Watanabe whether it was given to the Japanese official Abe no Nakamaro (698
Kaigyoku, eds., Taish? shinsh? daizoky?, 85 vols. (Tokyo: Taish? 770) or Kibi no Makibi (693P-775). See Sugimoto Naojir?, Abe no Na
Issaiky? Kank?kai, 1924-34), vol. 15, 652b; and Dai chidoron, in ibid., kamaro den kenky? (Tokyo: Ikuhosha, 1940), 201-9.
vol. 25, 218a. teeth are seen clearly in the next
19. The blackened stage of the newly
3. See Daij? gish? (Chin.: Dacheng yizhang), in Takakusu and Watanabe, deceased.
Daizoky?, vol. 44, 697c, 735c. 20. Since no Buddhist work containing a description of the nine stages
4. Ibid.; and Dai chidoron, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daizoky?, vol. 25, makes mention of the appearance before death, I follow the usual
218a. ordering and designate the newly deceased as the first stage.
5. In its section on the impure aspects of the human realm, which in 21. Unfortunately, the chest area of the corpse in the Raig?ji version is
cludes a description of the stages of a decaying corpse, the Oj?y?sh?, weathered and cannot be examined in detail. A later version of the
in Takakusu and Watanabe, vol. 84, 33-90, refers largely to the Maka nine stages at J?renzan Anrakuji, however, is likely based on the im
shikan, in ibid., vol. 46, 1-140. ages in the Raig?ji painting, and this shows the corpse covering her
6. In China, four different versions of the poem of the nine stages of a right breast with a raised right hand. This posture accords with the
surviving faint black contours at the breast of the corpse in the
decaying corpse have survived at the Dunhuang Caves. These versions
differ greatly from the textual sources. The first through fifth stages Raig?ji version.
cover the human aging process, from birth, to adolescence, maturity, 22. Yamamoto Satomi, "Kus?zu ni kansuru ichi k?satsu: Nakamurake bon
old age, and pain of sickness. The sixth stage is death. The decay of Kus?shi emaki wo ch?shin to shite," Waseda daigaku daigakuin bungaku
the corpse begins only in the seventh stage, with distension, continues kenky?ka kiy? 42, no. 3 (1997): 176-77.
in the eighth (putrefaction and bloating), and concludes with the "Kus?shi emaki no seiritsu," 165-70, established the
23. Nakamura Tanio,
ninth (bones). For details, see Kawaguchi Hisao, "Tonkobon tanhya traditional view in 1977 when he attributed the sequence of the Naka
kusaishi, kus?kanshi to Nihon bungaku ni tsuite," in Uchino hakase mura to the Su Tongpo version of the poem on the nine
illustrations
kanreki kinen t?y?gaku ronsh? (Tokyo: Kangi Bunka Kenky?kai, 1964), the or
stages of decay. Yet this interpretation is problematic, because
406-11. der of decay in the illustrations differs from that of the poems. The
7. It should be noted that the authenticity of the K?kai version has been order in the Su Tongpo version is (1) newly deceased; (2) distension;
challenged. The poem may have been composed by K?kai himself at (3) exudation of blood; (4) putrefaction; (5) discoloration and desic
the beginning of the ninth century; itmay have been added by Saisen cation; (6) consumption by birds and animals; (7) skeleton; (8) dis
(1025-1115) to his Zoku henj? hokki sh?ry?sh? hoketsush? (1079), a res jointing; and (9) tumulus. In contrast, the Nakamura version shows
toration of the lost volumes of K?kai's work that includes the poem; the discoloration and desiccation in the sixth stage, with three stages
or it may have been added by a later copier of Saisen's work at between distension and discoloration rather than the two stages speci

47
fied in the poem. To resolve the discrepancy, Nakamura Tanio specu 39. Azuma kagami, vol. 32 of Shintei zoho kokushi taikei (Tokyo: Yoshikawa
lates that two illustrations were depicted in the description of the K?bunkan, 1932), zenpen, 667.
fourth stage (putrefaction) in the Su Tongpo poem. This explanation 40. See Tokubetsuten emaki (Tokyo: Tokyo National Museum, 1974), n.p.
is weakened by the lack of evidence suggesting that two illustrations at an exhibition
The Nakamura version was displayed at the Tokyo
existed for a single stage of the careful contemplation on nine dis
National Museum in 1974 with the title Ono no Komachi j?sui emaki
crete stages of decay. See also the views of Yamamoto, "Kus?zu ni kan
suru ichi k?satsu," where she noted the relation of the Maka shikan to
(Illustrated Handscroll of theFlourish and Decay of the Life of Ono no Koma
chi). Since the Nakamura painting is dated to the early fourteenth
this painting.
century, the painting in the account may have been an earlier version
24. The first stage of newly deceased may owe its origin to the connection of the surviving scroll. Nonetheless, it is hard to imagine that a ver
between the Nakamura version and the meditation manuals. The sion existed as early as the ninth century, when Ono no Komachi
Zenpiy?h?ky? refers to the newly deceased, albeit as the eighth medita lived. With no strong evidence to connect the text and the painting,
tion. A contemporary sutra, Kanbutsu zanmai kaiky?, mentions the the painting was renamed Kus?shi emaki by Nakamura Tanio in his
newly deceased as the first stage. 1977 study.
25. Maka shikan, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daiz?ky?, vol. 46, 121c. 41. Muso Soseki's close disciple Shun'oku My?ha wrote this biography.
26. The Great Wisdom Sutra includes various forms of bones without em See My?ha, Tenry? kaizan Mus? Sh?gaku Shinsh? Fusai kokushi nenpu,
Zoku gunsho ruij?, vol. 203 (Tokyo: Keizai zasshisha, 1897), 497b.
phasis on the whole skeleton, so the sutra is not given in the listing of
sources describing sequential In the Zenpiy?h?ky?, 42. Nakamura "Kus?kan," in Iwanami bukky? jiten, ed. Nakamura
contemplations. Hajime,
which has thirty contemplations, the consideration of bones is empha et al. (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1989), 208.
Hajime
sized, with three different contemplations on bones given in the sec
43. The history of the paintings was learned through inscriptions discov
ond, tenth, and eleventh stages. ered during restoration of the scrolls in 1889. Previously, it was be
I should note that by the meditation I refer not to an ante
27. practice lieved that the original set included thirty paintings. A more convinc
cedent of Zen Buddhism but instead to the essential core practice of ing recent theory holds that the original set comprised only fifteen
Buddhism. See Kasuya Makoto, "Edo wo meguru: Sh?ju Raig?ji
paintings.
28. In this paper, zen denotes the Buddhist practice of reaching a tran rokud?e," in Kokuh? to rekishi no tabi:figoku to gokuraku imeiji to shiteno
scendental state through meditation, as distinguished from Zen, a sect takai (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 2000), 20-21.
of Buddhism. 44. For Genshin's of the process of a corpse's decay and the
descriptions
are delineated six realms of existence, see Oj?y?sh?, in Takakusu and Watanabe,
29. The most recent arguments in Yamabe Nobuaki, "The
S?tra on the Ocean-Like Sam?dhi of the Visualization of the Buddha: Daizoky?, vol. 84, 33a-41b.
The Interfusion of the Chinese and Indian Cultures in Central Asia as 45. The Raig?ji version departs from the Maka shikan and resembles the
Reflected in a Fifth Century Apocryphal S?tra" (PhD diss., Yale Uni Nakamura version in the insertion of the newly deceased and the
versity, 1999). omission of the bones parched to dust.
30. See Miyaji Akira, "Turfan Toyuk sekikutsu no zenkankutsu hekiga ni 46. The metaphor is taken from the Maka shikan, in Takakusu and Wa
tsuite: J?dozu, J?do kans?zu, fuj? kans?zuj? ge," Bukky? geijutsu 223 tanabe, Daizoky?, vol. 46, 122a.
(December 1995): 15-35; 226 (May 1996): 38-83. Miyaji links these 47. The Nakamura version shares this strange depiction of white flesh in
murals to the zen meditative sutras, including Zenpiy?h?ky?, because the seventh stage, which is contrary to the natural process of decay,
the themes of the murals at the caves largely overlapped with the con
indicating that these two versions were based on the same model. In
tents of the sutras.
the Edo versions, the sixth and seventh stages were interchanged.
31. Images of the contemplation on the skull have been found in other
caves, including Caves 77, 110, and 212 at the Kizil Caves, Xinjiang
48. Compare Oj?y?sh?, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daizoky?, vol. 84, 38b.
Province. In the same grottoes, no image of the contemplation on a 49. The inclusion of seasonal trees is a recognized convention of tradi
so the contemplation on the tional Japanese paintings. However, the explicit and pervasive connec
decaying corpse has been discovered,
bones might have been more essential from the fifth through eighth tion between the pictorial elements and the poem argues against the
centuries than the meditation on a decaying inclusion of seasonal trees in the Raig?ji version simply because of
corpse.
artistic convention. Moreover, the fact that the three trees are situated
32. The meditation manuals dated about 400, such as the Zazen
near one another suggests that they derive their significance and sym
sanmaiky?, the Zenh? y?kai, the Shiyui ryakuy?h?, and the Gomon zengy? bolism from the poem, rather than a conventional idiom for the
y?y?h?, stress the contemplation on the whole, white skeleton.
three seasons.
33. Maka shikan, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daiz?ky?, vol. 46, 121b.
50. The order and names of the nine stages of a decaying corpse in the
34. 121b-122a.
Ibid., Su Tongpo poem differ from those of the Raig?ji version in the third
35. The Raig?ji painting also does not show the stage of bones parched through ninth stages. The relation between the Raig?ji painting and
to dust. As in the Nakamura version, the absence of this stage is at the poem of the nine stages was first noticed by Yoshitani Haruna,
tributable to its adherence to the upper level of contemplation as ex "Kus?zukan saik?: Sono tenkyo ni tsuite," Bijutsushigaku 17 (1996):
pounded in the Maka shikan. See the discussion in Yamamoto, 27-50; and "Sh?ju Raig?ji rokud?e nind? fuj?s? no k?satsu," Bijutsus
"Kus?zu ni kansuru ichi k?satsu," 173. The significant difference be higaku 21 (2000): 1-17. I make clear here my observations, which
tween the Raig?ji and Nakamura versions is the degree of faithfulness largely differ from hers.
to the content of the Maka shikan, with the Nakamura version follow 51. Akiyama et al., Gaki z?shi, 111. Emphasis mine.
ing more closely, despite an adjustment in the order of decay.
52. The K?kai poem dwells on autumn and winter symbolism, although a
36. See Nakamura Tanio, "Kus?shi emaki no seiritsu," 165-70.
spring motif appears in the verse for the sixth stage. See Sanky? shiki
37. Ibid., 169. Despite the inscription's mention of Tosa Mitsunobu, the and Sh?ry?sh?, 460-68.
painter of the Nakamura version is unknown. The fourteenth-century 53. Akiyama et al., Gaki z?shi, 112. Emphasis mine.
work could not have been painted by a fifteenth-century artist. Naka
54. The "accreted tomb mounds [ruruitaru kofun]" appear in the fifth
mura Tanio mentions that the box is too large for the handscroll and
that itmay not be the original container for the painting. When I stage. The ninth stage includes the terms "mound [tsuka],n "pine hill
viewed this work, the size of the box did not seem inappropriate for [sh?gaku]," and "grassy field [s?taku]."
the handscroll. 55. The terms shogy? muj? (everything is transient) and muj? appear in
Buddhist sutras, including the Daihatsu nehangy?, Kong?ky?,
38. The founder of the Tendai school, Saich? (767-822), studied zen
in the Tiantai (Tendai) and Chan (Zen) schools in China, in Shutsuy?ky?, and others.
practice
an attempt to integrate the Dainichiky? (Skt.: Mahavairocana sutra, or 56. The set of paintings at Sh?ju Raig?ji treats the transitory aspect of the
Great Illumination Sutra) and the Lotus Sutra. He divided the incoming human realm (nind? muj?s?zu). One painting depicts six scenes that
students each year at his new Tendai school into two specialty prac are derived from the stories of human transience in the Buddhist
tices: one group studied four important meditative practices
sutras.
(shikang?), while the other concentrated on esoteric
practices 57. Daigoji shin y?roku, vol. 12 (Kyoto: Kyotofu Ky?iku Iinkai, 1953), 856
(shanag?). The four important practices, derived from the Maka shi 60. See also the article by Takei Akio, "Daigoji Enmad? to sono
kan, were profoundly connected with dhyana practice. Funaoka Ma sh?hen: Seny?mon'in kus?zu hekiga S?tatsu," Bukky? geijutsu, no. 134
koto has observed that Zhiyi developed the Maka shikan from his ear the mural did not survive, but
(January 1981): 57-68. Unfortunately,
lier compilation, Zenmon sh?sh? (Chin.: Chanmen xiuzheng, or Practice itmay have resembled the Raig?ji painting in composition and con
and Result ofMeditation), which treated the practices of chan {zen, tent.
meditation). Funaoka Makoto, "Heian jidai no Hieizan ni okeru
58. Daigoji shin y?roku, 720.
zens?," in Ishikawa Rikizan and Hirose Ry?k?, eds., Zen toNihon
bunka, vol. 10, Zen to sono rekishi (Tokyo: Perikansha, 1999), 35. 59. See Kasuya Makoto, "Edo wo meguru," 20-21.

48
60. Hayashi Masahiko, ed., Rokudoe soryaku engi, Densho bungaku 78. Most of the surviving representations of the nine stages in printed
shiry?sh?, vol. 11 (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1983), 290-323. books have both the Su Tongpo and waka poems.
61. Maka shikan, in Takakusu and Watanabe, Daiz?ky?, vol. 46, 122a. 79. An exception is in the illustration of the first stage, where the waka
mentions the sound of a bell at dusk ("iriai no kane"), and a corre
62. The selection of a woman as a model for enticement likely stemmed
from the predominance of men in the monastic societies of medieval spondence may be seen in the bell tower in the background of the
scene.
Japan.
80. The Kan? Motonobu studio also utilized techniques that drew from
63. Azuma kagami, Kaitei z?ho kokushi taikei, vol. 32 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa
the Chinese painting style, seen, for example, in the distant mountain
K?bunkan, 1932), zenpen, 667.
in the first stage, the cedar tree in the fourth stage, the rocks in the
64. Tokue Mototada speculates that this image was the painting of the fifth stage, the willow tree in the third stage, and the pine tree in the
nine stages of a decaying corpse, currently in the Nakamura private ninth stage, with their detailing of texture and three-dimensional rep
collection, examined in this paper. See Tokue Mototada, Miyai sensho, resentation. However, these technical details seem to have been sub
vol. 2, Gein?, N?gei (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1976), 104. ordinated to the hallmarks of the traditional Japanese-style painting,
65. An example from Ono no Komachi: "Hana no iro wa/utsurini ke such as round, flat mountains, hovering fog, and a less detailed depic
yo ni furu/nagame seshima ni." As translated by tion of figures.
rina/itazurani/waga
Joshua Mostow, "The color of the flowers/has faded indeed/in vain/ 81. The portrayal of a mourning aristocratic man is a pictorial convention
have I passed through the world/while gazing at the falling " rain." of the Kan? Motonobu studio, and in fact a similar figure is found in
Joshua S. Mostow, Pictures of theHeart: The "Hyakunin Isshu inWord a contemporary work from the same studio, entitled Illustrated Hand
and Image (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1996), 168. scroll ofDrunken Boy (Shuten d?ji emaki), dated 1522. Nevertheless, the
66. My?h? rengeky?, in Takakusu and Watanabe, use of such a figure in this painting is a marked from the
Daiz?ky?, vol. 9, 35c. The departure
five obstacles that impede women's enlightenment: inability to per conventional renderings of the subject.
form pure practices, greed, weakness, narrow-mindedness, and into a school is examined
82. The history of the beliefs development by
worldly desires. The three types of obedience required of women are
?sawa Kenichi, "Kinsei y?z? nenbutsush? ni okeru Shunk?ki no igi,"
obedience to father, husband, and children (after the husband's in Y?z? nenbutsu shink? no rekishi to bijutsu, ed. It? Yuishin (Tokyo: To
death).
kyo Bijutsu, 2000), 104-5.
67. For the relation between Ono no Komachi's character and the five 83. For basic background information on the Y?z? nenbutsu engi emaki,
Noh plays, see Sarah M. Strong, "The Making of a Femme Fatale: see Komatsu Shigemi, ed., Y?z? nenbutsu engi, Zoku Nihon emaki tai
Ono no Komachi in the Early Medieval Commentaries," Monumenta
sei, vol. 11 (Tokyo: Ch?? K?ronsha, 1983), 94-146; idem, ed., Y?z?
Nipponica 49, no. 1 (spring 1994): 391-412. nenbutsu engi, Zoku Nihon no emaki, vol. 21 (Tokyo: Ch?? K?ronsha,
68. Hosokawa Ry?ichi, Onna no ch?sei: Ono no Komachi, Tomoe, sonota (To 1992), 94-107; and Tashiro Naomitsu, Z?tei Y?z? nenbutsu engi no
kyo: Nihon Editor School, 1989), 247-50; and Gail Chin, "The Gen kenky? (Tokyo: Meicho Shuppan, 1976).
der of Buddhist Truth: The Female Corpse in a Group of Japanese 84. The use of miraculous events to emphasize spiritual efficacy and at
Paintings," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 25, nos. 3-4 (1998): tract new devotees was not a unique feature of the Y?z? emaki. Reli
296-303. the strategy in the thirteenth and four
gious institutions employed
69. Hayashi Masahiko, Rokud?e s?ryaku engi, 310. teenth centuries, and as a result, a substantial number of illustrated
70. During this period, in addition to paintings entitled The Nine Stages of
handscrolls portray the miraculous origin and history of temples and
shrines. Tokuda Kazuo, Otogi z?shi kenky? (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten,
a Decaying Corpse, other works have survived with the titles Ono no Ko
1990), 130-200, treats the background to the emergence of the illus
machi kus?zu (The Nine Stages of Ono no Komachi's Decaying Corpse) and
trated temple histories. The Y?z? emaki can be distinguished from
Danrin k?g? kus?zue (The Nine Stages of Empress Danrin's Decaying Corpse).
other illustrated handscrolls depicting miraculous stories by an obvi
71. In the Larger Sutra, the Amida's thirty-fifth vow states, "May I not gain ous intent to solicit funds through their prefaces and the bizarre con
of perfect awakening if, once I have attained buddhahood, tent, including an unexpectedly
possession large number of stories treating
any woman in the measureless, inconceivable world systems of all the women (to attract female devotees) and accounts showing Amida's
buddhas in the ten regions of the universe, hears my name in this life in different schools and laity from all social
light embracing monks
and single-mindedly, with joy, with confidence and gladness resolves classes.
to attain awakening, and despises her female body, and still, when her
85. This inscription is found on the Y?z? nenbutsu engi emaki in the Cleve
present life comes to an end, she is again reborn as a woman"; Luis
land Museum of Art.
O. G?mez, trans., Land of Bliss: The Paradise of theBuddha ofMeasureless
of Hawai'i Press, 1966), 170. In the 86. The kanjin originally meant to believe Buddhism
Light (Honolulu: University "encouraging people
Mury?juky?shaku (Commentary on the Larger Sutra), Honen refers to a and to accumulate good merits." The semantic scope of the term
woman's for rebirth in the Western Pure Land on the basis later extended to requesting donations and support for building and
potential
of the thirty-fifth vow of Amida. However, he still believed that women renovating Buddhist halls and towers, creating statues, copying sutras,
could be reborn by transforming their female into a male body imme and improving streets.
diately after death. 87. Sanetaka k?ki, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Zoku Gunsho Ruij? Kanseikai, 1957),
72. For the traditional conceptions of the corpse, see Yamamoto K?ji, 399b.
Kegare to Ooharae (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1999), 10-94. See also Katsuda 88. The connection between the Y?z? emaki and the courtly patrons is
Itaru, Shishatachi no ch?sei (Tokyo: Yoshikawa K?bunkan, 2003). studied by Tashiro Naomitsu. See his Z?tei Y?z? nenbutsu engi no
73. In a presentation at the Japanese Art Graduate Student Workshop, kenky?, 45-48.
Princeton, 1998, Yamamoto Satomi, "Realistic Depictions of the Dead 89. See Uchida Keiichi, 'Y?z? nenbutsu no seiritsu
engi meitokuhanpon
Body in the Kamakura Period," briefly noted on the basis of pictorial haikei to sono ito," Bukky? geijutsu 231 (March 1997): 39-60; and
and literary evidence the spread of the nine stages along with the
Takagishi Akira, "Seiry?jibon Y?z? nenbutsu engi to Ashikaga Yoshi
growing popularity of Pure Land Buddhism. mitsu nanakaiki tsuizen," Bukky? geijutsu 264 (September 2002): 50-70.
74. The original meaning of nenbutsu is "to think of Buddha." There are 90. See Y?z? nenbutsu kanjinj?, in Tashiro Naomitsu, Z?tei Y?z? nenbutsu
two main types of nenbutsu, contemplative nenbutsu and invocational
engi no kenky?, 93-98. Tashiro regards this citation as the textual
nenbutsu. The contemplative nenbutsu involves meditating on Amida. source for the Y?z? emaki.
The invocational nenbutsu consists of vocally reciting "Namu Amida
Butsu" (homage to Amida Buddha). 91. As mentioned above, chapter nine of the second volume of the Y?z?
emaki recounts how the wife of a low-ranking monk was delivered
75. The Dainenbutsuji version has appeared in the following exhibition from the gate of hell by the merit of y?z? nenbutsu. The accretion of
no sekai: Kun? suru
catalogs: Shiga kenritsu biwako bunkakan, J?doky? merit on behalf of the dead was emphasized in the teaching of the
seishinshi (Shiga: Shiga kenritsu biwako bunkakan, 1992), 63^ Osaka
y?z? nenbutsu. In this particular story, the deceased was rescued from
shiritsu hakubutsukan, Y?z? nenbutsush?: Sono rekishi to ih? (Osaka: hell by zealous thaumaturgy. But the usual merit of the y?z? nenbutsu
Osaka shiritsu hakubutsukan, 1991), 78-79; and Hy?go kenritsu rek for the dead was deliverance from the suffering of the six realms of
ishi hakubutsukan, Jigoku: Oni toEnma no sekai (Hy?go: Hy?go ken existence and the attainment of salvation.
ritsu rekishi hakubutsukan, 1990), 59.
92. Kokusho s?mokuroku, vol. 2 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1964), 661-62.
76. The silver pigment used for the moon, has oxidized to
unfortunately, Although the Kokusho s?mokuroku lists only seven extant books, at least
a dark gray. ten sets of books on the subject exist in the collections of Waseda
77. Aizawa Masahiko identified the calligrapher in his article "Daiei na University Library, Tokyo University Library, and the Akagi Bunko
nanenmei Kus?shi emaki ni tsuite: Shoki Kan?ha y?shiki no emaki," Collection. These include five books entitled Kus?shi, two sets (four
Museum, no. 516 (March 1994): 4-21. He also attributed the painting volumes each) entitled Kus?shi esh?, and three sets (two volumes
to the studio of Kan? Motonobu. each) entitled Kus?shi genkai. One of the Kus?shi books has the later

49
title Kus?shi ekai, but the content is the same as the other Kus?shi; the koza, vol. 1, pt. 3 (Tokyo: Daitoky? Kinen Bunko, 1962), 1-14; Mat
Kus?shi ekai volume is located in Tokyo University Library. The other subara Hidee, Usuyuki monogatari to otogi z?shi, kana z?shi (Osaka:
four Kus?shi volumes are in the Akagi Bunko Collection (one) and Izumi Shoin, 1997), 205-36; Aoyama Tadakazu, Kana z?shi jokun
Waseda University Library (three). bungei no kenky? (Tokyo:_?f?sha, 1982), 5-101; Tanaka Shin, Kana
93. Handscrolls and hanging scrolls as well as books depicting the nine z?shi no kenky? (Tokyo: ?f?sha, 1974), 158-245; and Richard Lane,
"The Beginnings of the Modern Japanese Novel: Kana-Z?shi, 1600
stages of a decaying corpse were also produced during the Edo pe
riod. Several have survived, and they are connected with the legend 1682," Harvard fournal of Asiatic Studies 20, nos. 3-4 (December 1957):
644-701. definitions of kana z?shi have been imprecise,
ary beauties Ono no Komachi and Empress Danrin. Although
three criteria permit categorization as kana z?shi: the use of kana sylla
94. The bookstore, K?rin Shoin, was owned by Sawada Kichizaemon. An
bles, books of a literary rather than a practical nature, and the period
advertisement listing other books sold at the store is found in the last of production
few pages of each of the two extant editions. ( 1600 -1680).
100. According to Lane, "Beginnings of the Modern Japanese Novel," 649,
95. One of these books at Tokyo University Library has the later title
mass woodblock reached a peak in quality in the 1650s.
Kus?shi ekai, and one at Waseda University printing
Library has the subtitle
Waka oyobi eiri (including waka poems and illustrations). 101. Suggestions by some scholars of a continuing Buddhist purpose for
the illustrations are untenable. Tanaka Shin, Kana z?shi no kenky?,
96. For the Akagi version, see Kinsei Bungaku Shoshi Kenky?kai, ed., Kin
sei bungaku shiry? ruij?, vol. 10, Kana z?shi hen (Tokyo: Benseisha, 166, points out the tendency in literary scholarship to connect the
nine stages with etoki.
1983), 505-28.
97. No literary or art historian has completed a comprehensive 102. Suzuki Sh?san, Ninin bikuni, in Kinsei bungaku shiry? ruij?, vol. 10,
study of Kana z?shi hen (Tokyo: Benseisha, 1983), 351-432.
the nine stages in the Edo era. I recently found a literary historian's
study on the nine stages of Empress Danrin's corpse. Although her 103. The five ?j?den in the twelfth century are as follows: Zoku honch?
views overlap with mine regarding the function of the Edo printed ?j?den, by ?e no Masafusa, not long after 1102, Sh?i ?j?den, by Miyoshi
books on the subject of the nine stages, her study focuses mainly on no Tameyasu, completed about 1111, Gosh?i ?j?den, by Miyoshi no
the legend of Empress Danrin; Nishijama Mika, "Danrin k?g? no sei Tameyasu, between 1137 and 1139, S?nge ?j?ki, by Renzen,
completed
to shi wo meguru setsuwa: Zen no Nihon hatsudentan nyonin kaigo after 1139, and Honch? shinsh? ?j?den, by Fujiwara no Munetomo,
tan to shite," Bukky? bungaku, no. 25 (2000): 98-113. Because of its 1151.
lack of religious and art historical context, I have concerns about
104. Shibyaku ?j?den, in Kasahara Kazuo, Oguri Junko et al., eds., Kinsei
Nishijama's treatment.
?j?den sh?sei (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1978), vol. 1, 4-82; and
98. The reversal of the stages consumption by birds and animals and dis Kinsei ?j?den in ibid., vol. 2, 4-30.
coloration and desiccation indicates that the author was aware of
105. Oguri Junko surveyed the characteristics of those who attained their
some earlier paintings of the nine stages?perhaps the Raig?ji ver
rebirth in Shibyaku ?j?den and Kinsei ?j?den in ibid., vol. 1, 484-85,
sion. In the latter, the illustration of consumption by birds and ani and vol. 2, 603-4.
mals in the seventh stage shows white, plump flesh that should be an
tecedent to the dried skin and flesh of the sixth stage. 106. For Suzuki Sh?san, see Suzuki Tesshin, Suzuki Sh?san d?jin zensh? (To
99. For definitions and histories of kana z?shi, see Nihon koten bungaku dai kyo: Saikib? Busshorin, 1962); and Royal Tyler, "Suzuki Sh?san
(1579-1655): A Fighting Man of Zen" (PhD diss., Columbia Univer
jiten, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1983), 670-71; Iwanami k?za Ni
hon bungaku (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1931), 3-35; Teruoka Yasutaka, sity, 1977).
"Kana z?shi," in Iwanami k?za Nihon bungakushi, vol. 7 (Tokyo: 107. Suzuki Sh?san 's teaching to women can be found in his M?anj? and
Iwanami Shoten, 1958), 3-44; Ichiko Teiji, Kana z?shi ni tsuite, Bunka Roanky?, in Suzuki Tesshin, Suzuki Sh?san d?jin zensh?, 57-58, 188.


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Behind the Sensationalism: Images of a Decaying Corpse in Japanese Buddhist Art

Author(s): Fusae Kanda

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

Religious and Literary Background have survived in China as well as in

A of these relies on a conver existed. The were written in Chinese char

by Kum?raj?va [344-413], 402-5).2 The practice is a type of the nine stages of a

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

Tongpo poem is dated to 1527 (at Dainenbutsuji in Osaka). relishing the

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1 Illustrated Handscroll the Nine a

illustrations seem to a sensual attractiveness The order of the of in the handscroll is as

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texts vary in their and of the of concentrations on that

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

The level of ends before

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

4 Painting of the Impure Aspect of theHuman Realm,

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8 Detail of Fig. 4: discoloration and desiccation

5 Detail of Fig. 4: newly deceased

9 Detail of Fig. 4: by birds and animals

summarizes the entire section on the of the

seen, all desires the cease.48

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11 Detail of Fig. 4: grave marker

10 Detail of Fig. 4: cartouche

for the fifth and ninth contain terms related to au

already departed. A beautiful face quickly fades asflowers in

Raig?ji version follows the poem in its landscapes by placing

newly deceased body.

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(Daigoji shiny?roku), records that the Enma Hall at Daigoji

Goshirakawa, and completed in the twelfth month of 1223 they make

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dren, after the husband's death) the woman's lamen

devotional image would center on a

been portrayed in a painting produced by a temple. It ismore At this

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

Handscroll a Osaka Museum of

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

scene and of the Su Tongpo from Illustrated Handscroll a

nine stages to be accompanied by both the Su Tongpo poem maple, simultaneously

sixteenth century. The calligrapher J?h?ji K?jo was once an corresponding

tive feature of the Dainenbutsuji version is its visual corre

and trees are near the in an version concludes a male aristocrat

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a lower-ranked to this world, Y?iz?

suji version even seem to

Nenbutsu; hereafter, the Y?z? emaki). Since the of ened court.

format and subject have been painted repeatedly.83 In illus

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

to foster belief among the male and female

laity, all of whom attained salvation

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

Indeed, the Edo period

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:33:01 PM

Nakamura version distension rupture exudation of putrefaction discoloration and consumption by

version (ca. distension rupture exudation of putrefaction discoloration and consumption by