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Paper short abstract

Genshin (942–1017), a Tendai monk and the author of the Ōjōyōshū, greatly influenced the Japanese Amidist tradition. This study is a preliminary investigation on how Genshin himself was depicted in Japanese True Pure Land art, rather than how Pure Land was portrayed due to his influence.

Paper long abstract

Genshin (942–1017), also known as Eshin Sōzu, was a Tendai monk and author of two seminal treatises: the Ichijō yōketsu (Determining the Essentials of the One-vehicle) and the Ōjōyōshū (The Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land). The former focusing on the Lotus sutra and theoretical explications about how to reach enlightenment. The latter, instead, provided practical guidance for birth in Amida’s Pure Land. His writings influenced later schools of Japanese Buddhism, especially Pure Land and True Pure Land traditions. Genshin was even elected the first Japanese True Pure Land patriarch by Shinran, the founder of this school. Many are the pieces of Amidist art that are deemed to be influenced by Genshin’s writings, and a few academic papers focus on this subject. This preliminary study, however, begins to investigate how Genshin himself was portrayed in Japanese True Pure Land art rather than how Pure Land was portrayed due to his influence. For instance, in the Kōmyō honzon, he is depicted as a holy patriarch: distinctively dressed, seated on an elevated platform, and surrounded by inscriptions emphasizing his sanctity and near-Buddha status. Conversely, depictions such as the Seven Patriarchs canvas present him in a diminished role: Genshin appears seated on a plain chair, visually subordinate to other figures, reflecting a shift in perception from “saint” to “prestigious monk.” This paper starts investigating how representations of Genshin transformed and evolved alongside changing religious, social, institutional, and historical contexts. In particular, it analyses the link between Buddhist art and how society perceived Buddhism itself, that is to say, whether Buddhism was positively perceived or not by the Japanese people and the Japanese government in specific historical periods. Furthermore, this work aims to reflect on how (True) Pure Land Buddhism used to interact with commoners and, therefore, how this interaction was echoed in visual art.