Angaja
(Ingada), a hanging scroll
painting
Japan
Kamakura-Muromachi
period, 14th century AD
One of the Buddha's sixteen
disciples
The sixteen
arhats (Japanese:
rakan) were disciples of
Shaka (Sanskrit:
Shakyamuni),
the historical Buddha. At his request they remained in the world
after attaining
nirvana
in order to help others. Paintings of the
arhats, often in sets of
sixteen hanging scrolls, became popular in China during the Five
Dynasties (907-60) and Song dynasty (960-1279). Many of these were
imported to Japan during the Heian and Kamakura periods (together
794-1333), where they were revered and
copied.
The Japanese
artists took up the Chinese practice of a combination of painting
styles. Here, the figure and lion are expressed in an older
line-and-colour technique, with sweeping outlines for the
arhat's robe and
some fine detailed work in the lion's face and mane. The
background is in the newer ink-painting style using a relatively
dry brush. Altogether the effect is more informal than
representations of Buddhas and
bodhisattvas,
emphasizing the humanity of the
arhats so as to appeal
to the popular imagination. In general,
arhats are shown with
Indian-looking features and the wasted limbs of
aesthetes.
The artist is
unknown, though this painting is similar in style to sets of
arhats by the
suiboku monk-painter
Ryōzen who was active in Kyoto from about 1348 to 1355. Almost all
his paintings are of Buddhist subjects.
I. Hirayama and T. Kobayashi (eds.), Hizō Nihon bijutsu taikan, vol. 1 (Tokyo, Kodansha, 1992)
L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)