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

In the Flower Garland Sutra, the chapter “Entering the Dharma Realm” tells of a pure-hearted boy named S udhana (J. Zenzai Dōji) who sets out to achieve enlightenment after listening to the teachings of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (J. Monju). On the bodhisattva’s advice, Sudhana visits several virtuous teachers (Skt. kalyāṇamitra) one after the other before attaining great enlightenment in the presence of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra (J. Fugen). In Japan, scenes of Sudhana’s pilgrimage seem to have been included in works concerning the Flower Garland Sutra in the Nara period (710–794). This painting is from a set of 53 (or 54 if Sudhana’s second visit to Mañjuśrī was included) that depict each scene of Sudhana’s pilgrimage in the order of places visited. They were originally formatted as hanging scrolls with “painted mountings” made to resemble mounting fabric. Twenty paintings remain extant, 10 of which are owned by Tōdaiji Temple, with the other 10 belonging to institutions like the Nezu Museum, the Fujita Museum, and the Nara National Museum. Despite variations in the painting styles, the scrolls were likely produced as a set.

Wall paintings of Sudhana’s pilgrimage were probably produced in Japan in the late Heian period (794–1185), as suggested by The Prayer of Buddhist Buildings and Statues by the Empress . In China, there are examples from at least the Northern Song (960–1127) dynasty, as noted by the Tendai priest Jōjin (1011–1081), who went to Song China and saw an image of “Sudhana with Virtuous Teachers” on a wall at the Great Buddha Hall of Kaiyuansi Temple in Luzhou. Further, the priest-prince Uicheon (1055–1101) of Korea’s Goryeo dynasty appears to have made copies of 54 hanging scrolls of Sudhana’s pilgrimage to virtuous teachers at Huiyinsi Temple in Hangzhou, China, which he brought back to Korea. These records suggest the iconographies in this painting need to be examined in an East Asian context.

In the set of hanging scrolls this one belongs to, the names, locations, and verses about the virtuous teachers are inscribed on the upper part in ink. The verses are inconsistently sourced from a 60-volume and 80-volume translation of The Flower Garland Sutra. The composition styles are not based on what would have been recent iconographies from the late Northern Song dynasty, which are extant in ink rubbings and woodblock prints, and are likely based on earlier Chinese iconographies of Sudhana’s pilgrimage. The use of pigments mixed with white, colored line work, and colored shading are elements seen in Buddhist paintings from the mid-Heian period. The landscapes, scenes of water, and irregular motifs follow earlier styles as well. The orthodox renderings in the set raise many interesting points.

The original paintings are thought to have been hung in the five central bays (the lecture hall and refectory) of the northern dormitory of the three monastic dormitories at Tōdaiji Temple’s Kaidan-in during the Muromachi period (1392–1573).