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

This pictorial bibliography of Prince Shotoku is unique in that approximately 70 scenes of his achievements in his life are grouped by season and depicted on four screens. Most existing pictorial biographies depicted by season, though few in number, have the same pattern and composition as this one. In the environment closely connected with Horyuji Temple, this work seems to have served as a prototype of pictorial bibliographies. This work features clear painting in bright colors and has characteristics common to other Prince Shotoku pictorial bibliographies, many of which were created centered around Nara in the Kamakura period.
When it was taken apart for repairs conducted from 1973 to 1976, a piece of a legend written with sumi ink was found pasted on the reverse side of the second silk painting. The legend said that the picture was drawn in the late Kamakura period in 1305 by two painters called Kozu no Hokyo and Tajima no Fusa.
This is a rare example in the history of Japanese art in that both the date of creation and the names of the painters are known.
It is also pointed out that behind the creation of this work, there must have been an atmosphere conductive to rekindle the three sutras (Lotus Sutra, Shoman Sutra and Yuima Sutra) that Prince Shotoku had valued.