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

The White-Robed Kannon (Ch. Baiyi Guanyin) sits meditating on a rock in a loosely wrapped white robe. The child in the lower left is the boy pilgrim Sudhana (J. Zenzai Dōji), revealing the painting depicts Sudhana visiting Kannon seated in lotus position atop a diamond boulder on Mount Potalaka during his pilgrimage to learn from spiritual teachers. This scene is described in the “Entering the Dharma Realm” chapter of the Flower Garland Sutra. The bamboo grove and waterfall in the background are from a passage in the sutra that describes Mount Potalaka as having “trees abundant with flowers and fruit as well as countless springs and ponds.” The elements are rendered using typical ink painting techniques. The willow branch in a flower vase next to Kannon, and the water below the rock are closely related to the iconographic forms known as Willow Kannon and Water-Moon Kannon. As ink painting increased in popularity, however, the iconographic form of the White-Robed Kannon attracted a larger following for the pureness of the white robe and was a particular favorite at Zen temples. The Chinese poem in four seven-character phrases at the top of the painting was written by Yakuō Tokken (1245–1320), who was the abbot of Nanzenji Temple and various temples in Kamakura. This suggests the painting was drawn between Tokken’s return from Song China at the end of 13th century and his death. The image is an early example of ink painting in Japan and the country’s oldest extant painting of the White-Robed Kannon. Despite this, the ink techniques used reflect an already advanced stage of development, with the rendering of space and distance being particularly remarkable.