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

　　This painting is a portrait of Daoxuan (Nanzan Daishi; 596–667), a Buddhist priest from the early Tang period in China. Dauxuan perfected the Lu (Ritsu) school by writing The Manual of the Shibunritsu (Skt. Dharmaguptaka-Vinaya) and become the founder of the Nanzan Ritsu sect. He also joined the translator-priest Xuanzang’s translation of Buddhist sutras and wrote various books including the List of Sutras Translated into Chinese, the Collection of the Biography of High Priests, the History and Cultures about India and Collection of the Writings about Defense of Buddhist Doctrines. Accordingly, he had great achievements and made great contributions. In Japan, the founder of the Lu sect Jiànzhēn (688–763) propagated the teachings (shibunritsu) in the Nara period (710–794) and when the Lu school was revived in Kyōto and Nara in the Kamakura period (1185–1333), many portraits of high priests were drawn during the period.
　　This painting is a portrait of Dauxuan wearing a black kasaya while sitting in a diagonal direction in a high Buddhist chair (kyokuroku) covered with a happi cloth and holding a priest’s flapper. This painting follows the style of the iconography of the portrait of Dauxuan, one of a pair of paintings, the portrait of the precept master Dauxuan and Ganjō (1048–1116) (nationally important cultural property held at Sennyūji Temple), which was drawn in Jiading 3 (1210) in Southern Sung dynasty of China and brought back by the founder of Sennyūji Temple Shunjō (1166–1227) after he learnt the Lu school in China in the Kamakura period. Compared to the realistically presented painting in Sennyūji Temple, the shape of the head and unique facial features such as the slanted eyes of this painting were carefully drawn following a traditional style. This indicates that iconography brought back from China in the Sung dynasty period was regarded important as an original and became popular in Japan. The name “Chōshō (澄照)” inscribed in ink is the posthumous name of Dauxuan by the Emperor of Tang dynasty Isō (833–873; r. 859–873). This painting was handed down to the Morimura Family.