Focus on Kegon Engi Emaki and analyze the Background.
An emakimono consists of one or more long rolls of paper narrating a story through yamato-e texts and paintings. The reader discovers the story by progressively unrolling the scroll with one hand while rewinding it with the other hand, from right to left (according to the then horizontal writing direction of Japanese script), so that only a portion of text or image of about 60 cm (24 in) is visible. Originating in Japan in the sixth or seventh century through trade with the Chinese Empire, emakimono art spread widely among the aristocracy in the Heian period.Later, the advent of the Kamakura period was marked by internal strife and civil wars, which spread and favoured the rise of the warrior class (the samurai); the latter put into the spotlight a realistic, less mannered and esoteric, aristocratic culture (the Zen school also appeared at that time). In addition, from these social disturbances a fertile ground for Buddhist proselytism was born, as several new schools, mainly from the Pure Land (jōdo) tradition, appeared in Japan. Plastic iconography remained important for transmitting religious doctrines, so much so that painting played a big role, in particular the emakimono with accounts of the foundation of temples or the lives of famous monks. The old schools in vogue during the Nara period, including the Kegon school (Kegon-shū), also experienced a resurgence of interest. The Kegon Engi Emaki was created, during the golden age of emakimono (the 12th and 13th centuries), in that context.The term "engi" (as in Kegon Engi Emaki) designates a Japanese narrative style that transcribes chronicles and legends about the founding of Buddhist temples; as for the term "eden" (part of Kegon-shū Sōshi Eden), it designates the biographies of famous monks.Several other works, the best known of which are the Ippen Shōnin Eden (on the life of the monk Ippen, founder of the Ji-shū branch of Pure Land Buddhism) or the Hōnen Shōnin Eden (on Hōnen, the founder of Pure Land in Japan), tackle a similar theme. However, the genre of romance, important in the first part of the Kegon Engi Emaki, can also be emphasized.
Kegon Buddhist Kamakura period samurai Buddhism yamato-e Hōnen Zen Ippen Nara Chinese Empire Pure Land Heian period horizontal writing direction of Japanese script Ippen Shōnin Eden Pure Land Buddhism Hōnen Shōnin Eden emakimono Nara period left