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

This work portrays scenes from the Lotus Sutra. Originally, it is thought to have comprised all twenty-eight chapters, but only three scenes (four illustrations and three sections of text) remain today. The scroll here begins with the opening statement from the "Entrustment" chapter (J., Zokurui-bon). It is accompanied by a scene depicting the Buddha Sakyamuni, and a bodhisattva who has come to hear him teach at Vulture Peak. The Buddha is stroking the bodhisattva’s head and entrusting him with the secrets of the Lotus Sutra. The text part of this section is owned by the Hatakeyama Memorial Museum of Fine Art in Tokyo. The work is believed to have been painted by a mid-Kamakura period Buddhist painter.