National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

　　This is a scroll of ink line painting depicting eight worshipping bodhisattvas playing a musical instrument or holding a flower basket, Bonten (Skt. Brahmā), Taishakuten (Skt. Śakra), the Four Heavenly Kings and the Intimidating Duo. Based on the title and the endorsement, it is estimated that this is a copy of the painting on the door of a portable shrine enshrined in the Kaidan-in of Tōdaiji Temple. The portable shrine was enshrined in the Kaidan-in of Tōdaiji in Tenpyō Shōhō 7 (755) but was burnt down due to a war in Jishō 4 (1180). This scroll of drawings is an extremely valuable drawing material as it was copied before the fire and passes on the characteristics of a door drawing of the Nara period (710–794) which had been lost. It was once possessed by Kōsanji Temple in Kyōto and listed in the Indexes of Shingon Sutras of Kōsanji Temple compiled in Kenchō 3 (1251). The iconography of the six deities of Bonten, Taishakuten and the Four Heavenly Kings drawn in this scroll almost completely correspond to the six deities depicted in the Kusha Mandala, which thought to be completed in the late Heian period (794–1185) and now possessed by Tōdaiji, in appearance and size. Moreover, the color annotation made only for these six deity figures almost matches the coloring of the six deities in the Kusha Mandala, which suggests that they are closely related, and both faithfully pass down the original drawing that was lost.