Buddhist paintings

Japanese: 仏画 - ぶつが

It refers to Buddhist paintings, which in a broad sense are paintings with Buddhist themes that are created for Buddhist religious activities. In a narrow sense, it is used in the sense of corresponding to Buddhist statues (Buddha statues), and refers to images of Buddhist deities that are the objects of worship.

Buddhist painting began with the decoration of the side walls, ceilings, niches, and pillars of Indian Buddhist buildings with colored paintings and patterns. Some biographies of Buddha state that Buddhist paintings were created during the Buddha's lifetime, but this is currently in doubt. Based on relics and the fact that the earliest of the Ajanta caves in India were opened between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, as well as other sources, it is speculated that the production of Buddhist paintings became common around the time of Christ.

In the various regions where Buddhism spread, such as India, Tibet, Central Asia, China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Japan, the styles of Buddhist buildings varied, but the custom of decorating them was passed down. Eventually, in addition to Buddhist paintings for decoration, paintings of principal images for daily worship and sacred images for special religious events began to be made in each region, and many paintings with distinctive regional characteristics were produced. Furthermore, with the emergence of sects such as Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism, Buddhist paintings were produced that expressed content unique to those sects that had not been seen before, and the variety of paintings became increasingly diverse.

Old examples of Buddhist paintings can be found in the Buddhist cave temples of India and Central Asia. In the Ajanta Caves in India, some murals dating back to the 1st century BCE are preserved (left aisle of Cave 10), and the second period of murals dating from the 4th to 6th centuries, which are based on the life of Buddha, are considered to be the highlight of ancient Buddhist paintings. The ceiling and mural paintings of the Bamiyan Caves in Afghanistan are thought to date to around the 5th century, but there is no consensus. The ceiling and mural paintings of the Bamiyan Caves were destroyed by the Taliban regime in 2001 and most of them were lost. The rock paintings of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka (from around the end of the 5th century) are also considered to be Buddhist paintings. In Central Asia, the mural paintings of the many caves remaining in Gansu Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China are famous. Among them, the murals of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang are valuable examples that show the transition of Buddhist paintings in each era from the Northern Wei to the Yuan dynasty, while the murals of the Kizil Caves, Kumtura Caves, and Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves are typical of the unique Buddhist paintings of the Western Regions, and many Buddhist paintings can be seen in the fragments of murals excavated from the Miran ruins. In addition, unique Buddhist paintings known as tankas were produced in Tibet, Nepal, and other countries.

In Japan, Buddhist paintings have been painted on the murals of temples since the Hakuho period. The murals in the Golden Hall of Horyuji Temple are particularly famous, and show the influence of mainland China, particularly Luoyang during the Tang dynasty. In the Heian period, this style was inherited by some esoteric Buddhist temples, and began to be used for painting on panels inside temples and pagodas, or on silk and paper, leading to a flourishing of the production of Buddhist paintings, many of which are artistically excellent, and which occupy a large proportion of the history of Japanese painting.

In addition, Buddhist paintings in modern Japan have moved away from the traditional Buddhist painting system described below, and many Japanese painters have begun to paint with their own creative intent. They are no longer bound by the constraints of ritual, and instead choose subjects from the world of Buddhism in general and paint freely, resulting in many excellent works that can be considered modern paintings.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Types of Buddhist paintings

In terms of content, traditional Buddhist paintings can be broadly divided into the following categories:

[Shinichi Nagai]

Statues

These are depictions of Tathagata (Tathagata), Bodhisattvas (Bodhisattvas), and Myo-o (Wisdom Kings), such as Shakyamuni, Amida, Yakushi, Kannon, Samantabhadra, and Acalanatha, which are used as principal images during ceremonies, rituals, and worship.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Phase transformation diagram

A painting that makes the contents of a sutra easy to understand. It is also called a sutra transformation. These include paintings that summarize the main points or important scenes from a sutra in one or many paintings (such as the Hoon Sutra transformation, the Maitreya Gesho Sutra transformation, the Vimalakirti Sutra transformation, the Kannon Sutra transformation, and the Lotus Sutra transformation), hell transformations, Pure Land transformations that depict the Pure Land of a specific Buddha such as Amida, Shaka, Yakushi, or Maitreya, and paintings that arrange a group of figures around a specific deity (such as Kannon transformation, Fukukenjaku transformation, and Enma transformation). In addition, the Buddha Nirvana painting, which depicts Shakyamuni entering Nirvana, is a Nirvana Transformation Painting, and the Amida Raigo painting, which depicts the scene of Amida Tathagata coming to welcome him at the moment of death, was originally painted as part of the 'Kannon Sutra Transformation' and later became independent.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Mandala

A mandala that arranges the various deities that make up the world of esoteric Buddhism diagrammatically according to certain rules. As Shingon esoteric Buddhism became more popular, various mandalas were created as the principal image of ritual. There are four types of mandalas based on how the deities are depicted: (1) the statue mandala (an arrangement of the deities by drawing their figures, also known as the Great Mandala), (2) the Sammaya Mandala (a representation of the deities' possessions and hand gestures instead of their forms), (3) the seed mandala (a representation of the deities with their own unique Sanskrit characters, also known as the Dharma Mandala), and (4) the Karma Mandala (a representation of the deities' dignified appearance and their movements).

Also, depending on the way they are composed, they are roughly divided into two types: the Ryogai Mandala (consisting of two aspects, the Vajrayana and the Garbhadra), which is composed of all the deities with Dainichi Nyorai at the center, and the Besson Mandala (such as the Ichiji Kinrin Mandala and Nyoirin Mandala), which is centered on a specific principal image of worship. In addition, in Honji Suijaku art, a series of paintings called various mandalas, including the Kasuga Mandala and Kumano Mandala, are painted, but these are merely reappropriations of the name due to an expanded interpretation of the mandala in esoteric Buddhism.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Rokudo-e

This is a painting that illustrates the six realms into which all living things are reincarnated: hell, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, and heaven, and shows the principle of karma. There are also Ten Realms that combine the four saints (Shravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas) with the six realms of heaven to form the Ten Realms (Ten Law Realms), but there are few examples of this in Japan.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Buddhist narrative paintings

These are illustrations of the Buddha's previous life and its biographies, biographies of founders of Buddhist sects and high priests, and other legends related to Buddhism. These also include arhat drawings and Zen machine drawings.

In addition, with the systematization of esoteric Buddhism, Buddhist iconography in the style of white painting, which strictly stipulated the rituals for Buddhist statues, has become an indispensable relic for the study of Buddhist paintings.

[Shinichi Nagai]

"History of Japanese Buddhist Painting" by Takasaki Fujihiko (1966, Kyuryudo)" ▽ "Primary Color Japanese Art 7: Buddhist Paintings" by Takada Osamu and Yanagisawa Koichi (1970, Shogakukan)" ▽ "Study of Buddhist Narrative Paintings" by Kameda Tsutomu (1979, Tokyo Bijutsu) ▽ "Buddhist Paintings and Statues of the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa Periods" edited by Nagai Shinichi, Genda Heihachiro et al., 3 volumes (1986-87, Shogakukan)

Sigiriya murals
Of the six depressions on the western slope of the rock mountain, four have murals remaining. Two of the caves have paintings of 12 voluptuous female figures. Part of the World Heritage Site "Ancient City of Sigiriya" (Sri Lanka, registered in 1982) Sri Lanka Sigiriya ©Shogakukan ">

Sigiriya murals

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

仏教絵画のことで、広義には仏教の宗教活動のために描かれた仏教を主題にした絵画の総称。狭義には仏教彫像（仏像）に対応する意味に用いられ、礼拝(らいはい)の対象となる仏教の尊像を表した画像をさす。

　仏教の絵画活動は、インドの仏教建造物の側壁、天井、龕(がん)、柱などを彩色の絵画や文様により荘厳(しょうごん)することから始まった。仏伝によると、釈尊在世時代に仏画が描かれたように記すものがあるが、これは現在のところ疑問視され、遺品のうえからインドのアジャンタ石窟(せっくつ)のうち初期のものが紀元前1世紀から紀元後1世紀ごろに開かれていることや、その他の資料により、仏画の制作が一般に行われるようになったのは紀元前後と推測される。

　仏教が広まった各地方では、インド、チベット、中央アジア、中国、朝鮮、東南アジア、日本など仏教建造物の形式はさまざまであったが、それらを荘厳する風習は受け継がれていった。やがて荘厳のための仏画のほかに、日常礼拝のための本尊や、特別の宗教行事に用いるための尊像を描いたものが各地でつくられるようになり、地域によって特色を備えたものが数多く制作された。さらに密教や浄土教などの教派の登場により、それまでみられなかった教派特有の内容を表した仏画も描かれ、その種類は多種多様となった。

　仏画の古い作例は、インドや中央アジアの仏教石窟寺院にみられる。インドのアジャンタ石窟には前1世紀にさかのぼる壁画の一部が保存され（第10窟左側廊）、続く第2期の4～6世紀にわたる仏伝を主題にした壁画は古代仏画の白眉(はくび)と目される。アフガニスタンのバーミアン石窟の天井画や壁画などは5世紀前後ごろとされるが定説をみない。なお、バーミアン石窟の天井画と壁画は2001年タリバン政権により破壊され大部分が失われた。スリランカのシーギリヤの岩壁画（5世紀末ごろ）も仏画とみなされる。中央アジアでは中国甘粛(かんしゅく)省、新疆(しんきょう)ウイグル自治区に残る数々の石窟の壁画が名高い。そのうち敦煌莫高窟(とんこうばっこうくつ)の壁画は、北魏(ほくぎ)より元代にわたる各時代の仏画の変遷を伝える貴重な作例であり、キジル石窟、クムトラ石窟、ベゼクリク千仏洞の壁画は西域(せいいき)の独自の仏画の典型をなし、ミーラン遺跡から発掘された壁画の断片にも仏画が多くみられる。このほかチベットやネパールなどにおいてはタンカと称する独特な仏画が制作された。

　日本では、白鳳(はくほう)時代から寺院の壁画に仏画が描かれた。法隆寺金堂の壁画はとくに有名で、唐代洛陽(らくよう)をはじめとする大陸の影響を示している。平安時代に入ると密教寺院の一部に受け継がれ、堂塔内部の板絵や、絹地や紙本に描かれるようになり、仏画の制作の隆盛をみるに至り、芸術的にも優れたものがきわめて多く、日本絵画史のなかで大きな比重を占めている。

　なお、近代日本における仏画は、後述する伝統的仏画の系統から離れ、多くの日本画家によって、創作的な意図のもとに描かれるのが一般となった。いずれも儀軌の制約に縛られることなく、広く仏教の世界から題材を設定、自由に描かれるようになり、近代絵画としても優れた作品が少なくない。

［永井信一］

仏画の種類

伝統的仏画は、内容的には、次のとおりに大別される。

［永井信一］

尊像画

法会、修法、礼拝の際の本尊として、釈迦(しゃか)、阿弥陀(あみだ)、薬師、観音(かんのん)、普賢、不動といった如来(にょらい)や菩薩(ぼさつ)、明王などを描いたもの。

［永井信一］

変相図

経典の内容をわかりやすく絵画にしたもの。経変ともいう。これには、一つの経典に説かれている主旨や重要な場面を一幅あるいは多数の画面にまとめたもの（報恩経変、弥勒(みろく)下生経変、維摩(ゆいま)経変、観経変、法華(ほけ)経変など）、地獄を描いた地獄変、阿弥陀・釈迦・薬師・弥勒など特定の仏の浄土を描いた浄土変相図、また特定の一尊を中心にこれに群像を配したもの（観音変相、不空羂索(ふくうけんじゃく)変相、閻魔(えんま)変相など）などがある。そのほか、釈尊が涅槃(ねはん)に入ったありさまを描く仏(ぶつ)涅槃図は涅槃変相図であり、臨終に際し阿弥陀如来の来迎(らいごう)する光景を描く阿弥陀来迎図は、「観経変」の一部として描かれたのに端を発し、のちに独立したものである。

［永井信一］

曼荼羅

密教の世界を構成する諸尊を、一定の規則に従って図式的に配列したもの。真言(しんごん)密教の盛行に伴い、修法の本尊として各種の曼荼羅図がつくられた。諸尊の表し方により、(1)尊形曼荼羅（諸尊の形像を描いて配列したもので、大曼荼羅ともいう）、(2)三昧耶(さんまや)曼荼羅（尊形のかわりに諸尊の持物(じもつ)・印契などだけで表したもの）、(3)種子(しゅじ)曼荼羅（諸尊をそれぞれ固有の梵字(ぼんじ)で象徴するもので、法曼荼羅ともいう）、(4)羯磨(かつま)曼荼羅（諸尊の威儀の姿、所作の働きを示したもの）の4種がある。

　また、構成の仕方により、大日(だいにち)如来を中心に諸尊のすべてをもって構成した両界(りょうがい)曼荼羅（金剛界と胎蔵界の2面よりなる）と、特定の修法本尊を中心とする別尊曼荼羅（一字金輪(いちじきんりん)曼荼羅、如意輪(にょいりん)曼荼羅など）の二つに大別される。なお、本地垂迹(ほんじすいじゃく)美術においても、春日(かすが)曼荼羅、熊野曼荼羅以下、種々の曼荼羅とよばれる一連の絵画が描かれているが、これらは密教でいう曼荼羅の拡大解釈による名称の転用にすぎない。

［永井信一］

六道絵

地獄、餓鬼、畜生、阿修羅(あしゅら)、人、天という、生あるものすべてが輪廻転生(りんねてんしょう)する6種の境界を図絵し、因果応報の理を示す絵画作品。この天の六道に、四聖（声聞(しょうもん)、縁覚(えんがく)、菩薩、仏）をあわせて十界(じっかい)（十法界）とした十界図もあるが、わが国には遺例は少ない。

［永井信一］