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

The Ten Kings of Hell are judges in the afterlife who pass ten judgements on the deceased according to their deeds in life to determine the realm into which they will be reborn. It was believed that offerings and good deeds performed by a person or their family could spare them from being sentenced to suffer in the Buddhist hells. Originally, belief in the Ten Kings of Hell was established in China around the late Tang dynasty (618–907) and grew popular during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The Ten Kings not only featured in Chinese Buddhism, but spread to Korea and Japan as well.

Though only three remain today, these hanging scrolls were likely produced as a set of ten in China before being brought to Japan. Two of the three paintings are signed by Lu Zhongyuan (dates unknown), revealing the name of the artist. Lu Zhongyuan is thought to have had a close relationship with Lu Xinzhong (dates unknown), a painter in Ningbo, who had the same surname and produced many paintings of the Ten Kings during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). The style of this painting is notably similar to Lu Xinzhong’s paintings of the Ten Kings of Hell owned by Hōnenji Temple. The Lu family was active in Ningbo and seems to have produced Buddhist paintings at their studios to satisfy local demand.

An unusual feature of these works when compared to extant Song paintings of the Ten Kings, is that the lower halves of the compositions depict richly dynamic scenes of hell. In the final judgement scene with the king Wudao Zhuanlun (J. Godō Tenrin), one of the deceased is being released from hell. This is presumably meant to illustrate how offerings and good deeds can deliver even sinners from hell. Although the rendering is undeniably rough, the works are important for the insights they offer into beliefs at the time as well as the Lu family’s art dealings. The paintings were formerly preserved in the collection of the Morimura family.