:Kokawa-dera Engi Emaki

{{main|Emakimono|Yamato-e}}

File:People asking for Myoren forgiveness.jpg

Originating in Japan in the sixth or seventh century through trade with the Chinese Empire, {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} art spread widely among the aristocracy in the Heian period. An {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} consists of one or more long scrolls of paper narrating a story through {{Transliteration|ja|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 {{cvt|60|cm|in}} is visible.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T043440pg6|author=Kōzō Sasaki|title=(iii) Yamato-e (d) Picture scrolls and books|work=Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press|access-date=6 July 2013}}

The narrative assumes a series of scenes, the rhythm, composition and transitions of which are entirely determined by the artist's sensitivity and technique. The themes of the stories were very varied: illustrations of novels, historical chronicles, religious texts, biographies of famous people, humorous or fantastic anecdotes, etc. The narrative paintings, and especially the {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} telling the story of the founding of temples or the lives of famous monks, were also fertile ground for Buddhist proselytism.

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The {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera Engi Emaki}} recounts the miraculous origins of the {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera|italic=no}} temple, founded in 770 according to legend, and its main figure, a statue of {{Transliteration|ja|Kannon|italic=no}} with a thousand arms ({{Transliteration|ja|Senju Kannon}}). The origins and foundation of Buddhist temples ({{Transliteration|ja|engi}} in Japanese) was a classic subject of {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}}, often with a proselytising purpose of reaching as many people as possible.{{sfn|Shimizu|2001|page=237}} The work consists of a single scroll of paper, {{cvt|30.8|cm}} high by {{cvt|1984.2|cm}} long, organised into four short calligraphic sections and five long painting areas, but the start of the scroll (precisely the first calligraphic section and a piece of the first painting) was burned in a fire, and the remaining parts are partially damaged at the edges.{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|page=237}}

File:Kokawadera engi emaki - scroll 6d.jpg

The legend related by the work is based on the two parts of the text of {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera engi}} (The Legends of {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera}}). The first part of the text tells the tale of a hunter named {{Transliteration|ja|Ōtomo no Kujiko|italic=no}} from Kii Province in the 8th century. Several nights in a row, {{Transliteration|ja|Kannon|italic=no}} with a thousand arms revealed himself to this hunter by a strange light, so much so that {{Transliteration|ja|Ōtomo no Kujiko|italic=no}} decided to build him a temple there. A young ascetic promised him to carve a statue in seven days for this sanctuary; it is the statue of {{Transliteration|ja|Kannon|italic=no}} from {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera|italic=no}} temple. The second part of the text describes a miracle associated with this statue. In legend, a young monk one day healed the sick daughter of a wealthy man with prayers. Refusing the money offered as a thank you, he only accepted a knife and a red {{Transliteration|ja|hakama}} as a reward, saying he was going back to his home in {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa|italic=no}}, Kii Province. The wealthy man and his family made a pilgrimage there the following year. Going up the course of the {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa|italic=no}} River, they discovered the shrine and the image of Kannon with a thousand arms, adorned with the dagger and the red {{Transliteration|ja|hakama}}. They then concluded the miracle by understanding that the young monk was none other than the manifestation of {{Transliteration|ja|Kannon|italic=no}}, and decided to devote their lives to following the path of Buddhism.{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|page=237}}{{sfn|Okudaira|1973|pages=123–127}}{{sfn|Iwao|Benhamou|2002|page=1576}}

The creation date and author of the work are unknown, but it is commonly dated to the end of the 12th century (either late in the {{Transliteration|ja|Heian|italic=no}} period (794–1185) or at the beginning of the {{Transliteration|ja|Kamakura|italic=no}} period (1185–1333)).{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|page=237}} Specialists are divided on the possible existence of an older version or a study.{{sfn|Glum|1981|pages=325–326}}

The paintings in the {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} are in the {{Transliteration|ja|Yamato-e}} style, ie in accordance with the Japanese approach to painting that developed during the {{Transliteration|ja|Heian|italic=no}} period by deviating from Chinese canons. The work also belongs to the {{Transliteration|ja|otoko-e}} subgenre, which is characterized by dynamic paintings with light color and continuous narrative rhythm, as opposed to the paintings of the {{Transliteration|ja|onna-e}} (Court-style) subgenre, which are more decorative and emotional.{{sfn|Okudaira|1973|pages=64–70}}{{cite book|first1=Sherman E.|last1=Lee|first2=Michael R.|last2=Cunningham|first3=James T. E.|last3=Ulak|title=Reflections of reality in Japanese art|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art|date=1983|page=43|isbn=978-0-910386-70-8}} There are few other extant examples of {{Transliteration|ja|otoko-e}} works dating from the 12th century, but they include the {{Transliteration|ja|Shigisan Engi Emaki}}, the {{Transliteration|ja|Ban Dainagon Ekotoba}} and the {{Transliteration|ja|Kibi Daijin Nittō Emaki}}.{{sfn|Iwao|Benhamou|2002|page=1576}} It is highly probable that these works from the end of the 12th century are relatively contemporary in relation to each other; Glum puts forward the hypothesis, from an analysis of the styles of each scroll, that the {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera Engi}} would be subsequent to the {{Transliteration|ja|Kibi Daijin}} and prior to the {{Transliteration|ja|Shigisan Engi}} and the {{Transliteration|ja|Ban Dainagon}}.{{sfn|Glum|1981|page=334}}

File:Kokawadera engi emaki - scroll 5d.jpg

The paintings also observe a regular composition in three planes: a natural foreground (rocks, trees) serving to create depth in the scene; the figures and landscape elements (buildings, roads, fields, etc.) of the story occupying the entire center; and finally a distant and stylized landscape at the top of scroll.{{sfn|Glum|1981|pages=325–326}} This composition is inspired by the canons of Chinese art of the Tang dynasty with typically Japanese variations. The unrealistic perspective is classically based on parallel lines and the point of view is always the same, slightly elevated at the front.{{sfn|Glum|1981|pages=328–329}}{{sfn|Grilli|1962|pages=7–8}} On the other hand, the lines and outlines in ink are finer and less free than in the other {{Transliteration|ja|otoko-e}} works.{{sfn|Glum|1981|p=333}} Here, the lines are characterized by their simplicity; landscape elements are stylised and used mainly to mark transitions between scenes.{{cite thesis|first1=Laura Warantz|last1=Allen|title=The Art of Persuasion: Narrative Structure, Imagery and Meaning in the Saigyō Monogatari Emaki|location=Berkeley, California|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|date=1988|page=225|isbn=}} The narration is based on the repetition of scenes, fundamentally almost unchanged like the representation of the temple or the hunter's hut, in order to illustrate a succession of consecutive events.{{sfn|Glum|1981|pages=325–326}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/syuzou/meihin/kaiga/emaki/item05.html |title=Kokawadera engi emaki|publisher=Kyoto National Museum|access-date=28 July 2021}}

The figures in the paintings present some peculiarities, as they are more realistic and neutral than the other {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} of the time, such as the highly stylised Court paintings, or the {{Transliteration|ja|Shigisan Engi Emaki}} and the {{Transliteration|ja|Ban Dainagon Ekotoba}}, which are a little more expressive and caricatural.{{sfn|Glum|1981|pages=331–332}}

File:Kokawadera engi emaki - scroll 6d.jpg

A mirror of society, {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} are an important source of information on the civilisation and medieval history of Japan.{{sfn|Okudaira|1973|pages=81–82}} This particular {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} accurately illustrates the daily life of the Japanese at the very beginning of the {{Transliteration|ja|Kamakura|italic=no}} period, especially in its portrayal of ordinary people and local warriors.{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|page=5}} Like the {{Transliteration|ja|Shigisan Engi Emaki}}, the {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera Engi Emaki}} does not show life at Court, but life outside the Palace, another characteristic feature of works of the {{Transliteration|ja|otoko-e}} genre. A study by Kanagawa University presents in detail the elements of daily life illustrated by the five paintings of the scroll, including residences, clothing, activities and works, trips, food, amenities such as bridges, and also the temple.{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|pages=4–41}}

The {{Transliteration|ja|emakimono}} has been owned for centuries, and is still owned, by the {{Transliteration|ja|Kokawa-dera|italic=no}} temple. Today it is listed in the Register of National Treasures of Japan, and is exhibited at the Kyoto National Museum.{{sfn|Shibusawa|2007|page=4}}

• List of National Treasures of Japan (paintings)
• National Treasure (Japan)

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• {{cite thesis|type=PhD|first1=Peter|last1=Glum|title=The Ban Dainagon ekotoba, the Kibi Daijin nittō emaki, and the Nenjū gyōji emaki: a reassessment of the evidence for the work of Tokiwa Mitsunaga embodied in two Japanese narrative scroll paintings of the twelfth century, and one presumably close copy|location=New York|publisher=New York University|date=1981|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/GLUTBD|oclc=9772965}}
• {{cite book |language=fr |first1=Elise |last1=Grilli |translator-first1=Marcel |translator-last1=Requien |title=Rouleaux peints japonais |trans-title=Japanese Painted Scrolls |publisher=Arthaud |date=1962}}
• {{cite book|language=en|first1=Hideo |last1=Okudaira|translator-first1=Elizabeth |translator-last1=Ten Grotenhuis|title=Narrative picture scrolls|volume=5|location=New York |publisher=Weatherhill|series=Arts of Japan series|date=1973|isbn=978-0-8348-2710-3}}
• {{cite book|language=fr|first1=Seiichi|last1=Iwao|first2=Hervé|last2=Benhamou|author-link1=Seiichi Iwao|title=Dictionnaire historique du Japon|trans-title=Historical Dictionary of Japan|volume=1|publisher={{ill|Maisonneuve et Larose|fr}}|date=2002|isbn=2-7068-1575-2}}
• {{cite book |first1=Keizō |last1=Shibusawa|author-link1=Keizo Shibusawa|display-authors=etal|chapter=Kokawadera engi|title=Multilingual Version of Pictopedia of Everyday Life in Medieval Japan, compiled from picture scrolls |volume=2|pages=3–41|location=Yokohama|publisher=Kanagawa University 21st Century COE Program|date=2007 |isbn=978-4-9903017-3-6 |chapter-url=http://himoji.kanagawa-u.ac.jp/publication/pdf/result_report_01/1103_01-003.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023005/http://himoji.kanagawa-u.ac.jp/publication/pdf/result_report_01/1103_01-003.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016}}
• {{cite book |language=fr|first1=Christine|last1=Shimizu|author-link1=Christine Shimizu|title=L'art japonais|trans-title=Japanese Art|publisher=Flammarion|series=Tout l'art|date=2001|isbn=978-2-08-013701-2}}
• {{cite book|language=ja|first1=Tetsuo|last1=Sōga|title=粉河寺縁起絵,吉備大臣入唐絵|trans-title=Kokawa-dera Engi Emaki, Kibi Daijin Nittō Emaki|volume=5|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten|series=Shinshū Nihon emakimono zenshū|location=Tokyo|date=1962|isbn=|ref={{SfnRef|SNEZ}}}}

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• [https://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/syuzou/meihin/emaki/item05.html Kokawa-dera Engi Emaki] – on the Kyoto National Museum website [http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kyohaku.go.jp%2Feng%2Fsyuzou%2Fmeihin%2Fkaiga%2Femaki%2Fitem05.html [archived version (24 May 2014)]]

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Category:Emakimono

Category:National Treasures of Japan