e-ingakyou　絵因果経

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Lit. Illustrated Scripture of Cause and Effect. Also known as Kako genzai ingakyou emaki 過去現在因果経絵巻. The KAKO GENZAI INGAKYOU 過去現在因果経 (frequently abbreviated to INGAKYOU 因果経) or illustrated handscroll of The Scripture of Past and Present Cause and Effect. A Buddhist text that belongs to the genre of biographies of the historical Buddha *Shaka 釈迦. It was translated into Chinese in the mid-5c by Gunabhadra (Jp: Gunabatsudara 求那跋陀羅), and has four fascicles. It adopts an autobiographical format, with Shaka relating events in his past lives and in his historical life up to the conversion of his first 1,250 disciples. The underlying message of the work is that good deeds performed in former lives resulted in the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment in the last of his lives in human form. The illustrated versions of this scripture, composed of eight fascicles, take the form of illustrated handscrolls *emaki 絵巻 divided horizontally, with the illustrations printed above the text. The earliest examples in Japan, thought to be copies of a Chinese original from the Sui dynasty, date from the Nara period and represent the earliest extant illustrated handscrolls known in Japan. Important versions from this period include those of Joubonrendaiji 上品蓮台寺, Daigoji 醍醐寺 both in Kyoto, and Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, but they are incomplete, each consisting of only one fascicle. Copies of this illustrated scripture continued to be made through the Heian and Kamakura periods and even later, and those of the Kamakura period are known as SHIN-INGAKYOU 新因果経 (The New Scripture of Cause and Effect). The earlier versions of the Nara period, are known as KO-INGAKYOU 古因果経 (The Old Scriptures of Cause and Effect). Although the illustrations have generally been executed in color, the Shoutokuji 聖徳寺 (in Aichi prefecture) version dating from the late 12c is an ink line painting *hakubyou 白描.

REFERENCES:

*butsuden-zu 仏伝図, *honjou-zu 本生図.

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