松尾寺所蔵の終南山曼荼羅について―唐本北斗曼荼羅の一異図―=on the “Shunanzan Mandara” Owned by the Matsuodera: A Rare Mandala Painting of Variant of the “Hokuto Mandara,” Mandala of the Plough, Based on the Chinese Original
The “Shūnanzan Mandara 終南山曼荼羅” is described in the Kakuzenshō and other books on Buddhist iconography of the Kamakura Period as an example of the “Tōhon (Chinese original) Hokuto Mandara (Maṇḍala of the Plough)”. According to them, it depicted a scene where Emperor Ming-ti of (Hou) Han China encountered one of the Seven Stars of the Plough. The same story is mentioned in some Esoteric Buddhist ritual books in the Late Heian Period in which the mandala is merely called “Tōhon Hokuto Mandara”. Dr. ONO, Gemmyō, once proposed the identification of the “Shūnanzan Mandara” with a Maṇḍowned by the Tokyo University of Arts which has an inscription of “Tōhon Hokuto Mandara”, but it is incorrect. The present author affirms that the work shown in Plates I-IV in this number is none other than “Shūnanzan Mandara”. The owner of this work, Matsuodera, in the suburbs of Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture, is old temple of the Shingon sect and is famous for the painting of Vajrāmoghasamayasattva done in the Late Heian Period. The work in question, which is first introduced here to the public, as can be seen from the colour plate, is rather darkened and is by no means well preserved. Nevertheless, it is an important painting from not only an art historical but also a religious point of view. Its contents can be identified by the aid of inscriptions which are written in rectangular cartouches on the picture, though they are rather difficult to decipher. A painting of the same subject, owned by the Dōryūji, Kagawa Prefecture, that was worked out in a later period, will be useful for the identification because it also bears inscribed cartouches. The “Shūnanzan Mandara” of the Matsuodera consists of three scenes in the main portion, with mainor figures arranged in the upper and lower parts, (the one of the Dōryūji lacks these two parts). Three main scenes, divided one from the other by mountain ranges with rock-cut openings, are as follows: the lower of the main scenes represents Emperor Ming-ti encountering one of the Seven Stars of the Plough at Mt. Chung-nan (Jap. Shūnanzan). The middle is the hall where the Seven Stars live (Ch'i-hsing-kao ten 七星閣). In front of the hall is shown the deity which rules over human life, Pen-ming-yüan-ch'en 本命元辰 and his attendants (三尸,三魂,七魄,五臓). The upper scene illustrates the Pole-star which governs the Seven Stars of the Plough and its palace, Miao-chien-tien 妙見殿. Thus this painting is a unique work in which Taoist faith in the Plough and a phase of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism of its later stage are blended. The figures at the upper end of the picture are personified constellations that are found in the “Hoshi (Constellation) Mandara”, and those at the lower end are identified with the thirty-six animals and birds which correspond to the twelve hours, and are a very rare representation. The painting is an extraordinary version of the Plough Maṇḍala which is composed not in the form of the usual “Hokuto Mandara”, but as a scenic representation. And it is to be noted that Chinese elements in expression and in style have been greatly incorporated into it. This suggests that it is a comparatively faithful copy of the Chinese (T'ang or Five Dynasties) original. Judging from the features of the lines and colours, which are minutely analyzed by the author, it should be dated in the first half of the thirteenth century. The painting of the same subject of the Dōryūji, on the other hand, is probably a work of the fourteenth century.
