Artworks

Portraits of the Seven Shingon Patriarchs

Artwork · Li Zhen and a Japanese master, Li Zhen · 806–821 · kakemono · Tō-ji Temple

A set of seven portraits legitimizing the Shingon teaching from master to pupil. Five were painted in late Tang China and given to Kūkai by his teacher Hui-kuo before 806; in 821 Kūkai had two more made by a Japanese artist to replace damaged ones. An inscription names the Chinese painter Li Zhen on the portrait of the sixth patriarch, Amoghavajra (705–774): a monk deep in meditation, his shoes removed, hands in the gesture of the outer bonds, the face modelled with grey shading over the flesh and drawn in black iron-wire lines — not flattering, but a great teacher in thought. The Japanese portrait of Nāgabodhi (Ryūchi), in a red robe with a notebook in his hand, has little shading: a study of flat forms. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 128–129, figs. 154–155. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.