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

　　The priest Myoku wearing a black kimono and a black rectangular robe (kasaya) seats on a chair (shoza) with large partition (heisho) on which a raised tatami mat (age-tatami) with color gradation edges (ungen beri), while holding a Buddhist rosaries (juzu) in both his hands. The three Pure Land sutras, Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Daimuryoju kyo), Sutra of Infinite Life (Kanmuryoju kyo) and Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Amida kyo) are placed on a sutra desk in front of him. This painting expresses the unique, lively facial features of the figure such as its big nose, tightly closed lips and high cheekbones. The lines and colors are applied in an excellent way.
　　Many of the large portrait high priests in such a style can widely be found in Jodo Shin sects and drawings in the same style were handed down to temples including Korinji Temple in Kyoto Prefecture, Koyoji Temple in Osaka Prefecture and Hoden-in in Hiroshima Prefecture in later periods. Although there is an ink inscription in the square-shaped section on the upper part of this painting, it is indecipherable due to severe damage. However, due to the only decipherable phrase “必得往生 (Hittoku Ojo),” it is presumed that the eight sentences starting from the phrase “言南無者 (Gon Na Mo Sha)” by the Chinese Tang Buddhist priest Zendo were written there. These sentences are included in Eulogies Inscribed on the Scrolls of the Holy Names and Portraits (Songo Shinzo Meimon) written by the priest Shinran.
　　On the observer’s right, there is a reed-shaped section in which “釈明空法師 (Shaku Myoku Hoshi, the priest Myoku)” is inscribed in ink. Although the details of Myoku are not well known, there is one theory that Myoku was the vassal of Kamakura shogunate, Miura Tanemura (1225-1297), and he entered the priesthood and become a disciple of Shinran when the Miura clan collapsed in Hoji 1 (1247) and then founded Komyoji Temple in Ojima, Shimotuma, Hitachi Province. There is also another theory that Myoku was the person who built Busshinji Temple in Shiga Prefecture and explained as ‘the nun Zenmyo–Myoku’ in The List of Disciples of the Venerable Shinran Shonin (Shinran Shonin Monryo Kyomyo Cho). This article was handed down to this Busshinji Temple.