Shōtoku Taishi
e-den ('Illustrated biography of
Prince Shōtoku Taishi'), fragments from a set of hanging
scroll paintings
Japan
Muromachi period,
early 16th century AD
An example of the narrative tradition in
Yamato-e style
Prince Shōtoku Taishi (573-622) is regarded as
the founder of Japanese Buddhism. Soon after his death he became an
object of widespread veneration. For a number of centuries many
tales - some true, others fictional - were passed down and
illustrated first in large-scale wall paintings, and later, in the
more convenient hanging scroll format suitable for illustrating
sermons.
This painted scene
is one of nine separate fragments from what was probably originally
a set of hanging scrolls; scenes from Shōtoku's life would
have been arranged in chronological sequence down through the
compositions of each scroll. Most of the surviving scenes are from
his early life, but with a few also from his later years. The
illustration here shows the Prince's birth on the left and
on the right the four-year-old Shōtoku praying for his father. This
lack of right to left chronology proves that this is an assemblage
of fragments.
I. Hirayama and T. Kobayashi (eds.), Hizō Nihon bijutsu taikan-1, vol. 2 (Tokyo, Kodansha, 1992)
W. Zwalf (ed.), Buddhism: art and faith (London, The British Museum Press, 1985)
L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)