Paper short abstract:

Long before being named the founder of Shugendō, En no Gyōja was idealized as an ascetic cumulating Buddhist, Daoist and autochtonous powers. Centering on premodern hagiographies and mandalas, this paper will examine how he came to embody the essence of asceticism both visually and textually.

Paper long abstract:

Spiritual, hence ascetic, visualization can be understood from an internal and an external point of view. The internal point of view is that of the practitioner, their inner world experience. The external point of view is that of the witness to a practitioner's endeavour, be it a reader or a spectator. The body of the practitioner is the medium, the focal and transition point of both perspectives. At the same time, to be powerfully evocative, an image must convey both aspects, an inner resolve that translates to the outside. How do texts and images reflect this double viewpoint?

Before being seen as the traditional founder of Shugendō, En no Gyōja, "En the Ascetic", was considered a mountain practitioner par excellence, a prototypical and idealized ascetic cumulating Buddhist, Daoist and autochtonous powers as a result of his spiritual endeavours. Early textual descriptions of En no Gyōja yield little concrete information, yet they construct an aura of austere authority and strength from the onset, with very few elements. The first extant icons representing En no Gyōja, which are statues dating back to the 12th century, follow the same line. In all media, En no Gyōja is immediately recognizable as the epitome of an ascetic. What are the pictorial and textual characteristics that so distinguish him? Are they similar or different, and how do they interact?