Title: Jusan Butsu. The Thirteen Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Circa 1650-1750. Early to Mid Edo Period Painting of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Involved in the Judgments of the Underworld, Beautifully Painted and Highlighted with Gold Leaf
Condition: Very Good
An Early to Mid Edo Period, 17th to 18th century painting depicting the assembly of the 'Thirteen Deities' of the Japanese Shingon School of Vajrayana Buddhism, depicting Thirteen Buddhas and Bodhisattvas amongst billowing clouds.
This example has been beautifully painted, with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas depicted with their various vestments, blades, staves, and other items. The Buddhas have been lit up fully in gold leaf, and all thirteen deities have mandorlas or halos. The brushwork to the clouds is nicely done as well.
The 13 Buddhas are those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas involved in the judgments of the underworld, which were conceived in Japan in the Muromachi Period based on the Chinese Ten Yama Kings and Ten Courts of Hell, the latter coming about from a loose combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions.
The represented Buddhas preside over thirteen memorial services (from the seventh day to the thirty-third anniversary of death), and there is a tradition of displaying their paintings, mainly as hanging scrolls, at Buddhist memorial services and other Buddhist events. The thirteen Buddhas are the Ten Kings who are judges of the underworld, including King Enma, and Buddhas who are said to be the original incarnations of the judges who preside over the subsequent judgments (the seventh, thirteenth, and thirty-third anniversaries of death).
The thirteen depicted deities are as such:
1. Fudo Myoo (Acalanatha Vidyaraja) - seventh day. The 'Immovable Lord'
2. Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni Buddha) - fourteenth day. The Historical Buddha
3. Monju Bosatsu (Manjushri Bodhisattva) - twenty-first day. The Bodhisattva of Wisdom
4. Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva) - twenty-eighth day. The 'All-Good'
5. Jizo Bosatsu (Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva) - thirty-fifth day. The ‘Womb of the Earth'
6. Miroku Bosatsu (Maitreya Bodhisattva) - forty-second day. The embodiment of 'Loving Kindness'
7. Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaisajyaguru Buddha) - forty-ninth day. The 'Medicine Guru'
8. Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokiteśvara Buddha) - hundredth day. The Bodhisattva of Compassion
9. Seishi Bosatsu (Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva) - first anniversary. 'He who has attained great Strength'
10. Amida Nyorai (Amitabha Buddha) - second anniversary. The Buddha of 'Boundless Light'
11. Ashuku Nyorai (Akshobhya Buddha) - sixth anniversary. The 'Immutable One'
12. Dainichi Nyorai (Vairocana Buddha) - twelfth anniversary. The 'Illuminator'
13. Kokuzu Bosatu (Akasagarbha Bodhisattva) - thirty-second anniversary. The 'Womb or Sphere of Space'
The painting has been neatly mounted onto a brocade decorated kakejiku (hanging scroll), with jikusaki (knobs) made of lacquered wood.
One painting mounted on a kakejiku (hanging scroll), 145 x 48 cm full size, 87 x 39 cm main painting
This painting is in in very good shape, with creasing noted to the painting in many places. Some of the gold leaf has cracked and chipped in places, and some of the other paint has flaked.