Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture for SORW

The Holy Relics of Ananda and the Dragon Girl’s Jewel: As Depicted in the Honpō-ji Lotus Sūtra
Mandala

Haraguchi Shizuko

18:30-20:00
November 21, 2016
Room 301, 3F, Building 10
Sophia University

The relatively unknown late-Kamakura-period masterpiece, the Lotus Sūtra Mandala (or Hoke-kyō
mandara, in the collection of Chōshō-zan Honpō-ji in Yatsuo-chō, Toyama-shi), consists of twenty-two
hanging scrolls that illustrate the twenty-eight chapters of the Sūtra of the Lotus of the Wonderful
Dharma (Myōhō renge-kyō). The driving force behind the creation of these paintings was the vinaya
master Jōshin, who was the head priest of Ichijō-modoribashi-dera, a branch of Hosshō-ji temple.
Furthermore, the set was moved to Etchū Province (present-day Toyama Prefecture) at the behest of
Ashikaga Yoshiki (1466-1523; the tenth [r.1490-93] and twelfth [1508-22] Ashikaga shogun), who had
fled to the region during a government upheaval. It is likely that Yoshiki, in hopes of regaining
his position as shogun, had the work repaired in 1497 (Meiō 6), after which it was installed at
Honpō-ji.
This talk will focus on the bones of Ananda depicted in the ninth scroll and the Dragon Girl’s
jewel shown in the twelfth scroll. Ananda was widely considered the founder of the Ritsu sect of
Buddhism, based on canonical texts called the Vinaya Pitaka. He was also venerated as the patron
saint of nuns, since the Buddha permitted his step-mother Mahapajapati to be ordained as a bhikkhuni
or nun only after Ananda’s intercession.

Haraguchi Shizuko teaches at Toyama Prefectural University. She has studied the Honpō-ji painting
set for many years, and published A Study of Toyama, Honpō-ji-zō ‘Hoke-kyō mandara-zu with Hōzōkan
in 2016. Her research has done much to clarify the context of the creation and repair of this
important work.

This talk is coordinated by Caroline Hirasawa (FLA) for the ICC Research Unit "Materialities of the
Sacred."

Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC) Sophia University
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