This scroll, with thirty-four images from the Lotus Sutra’s “Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds,” is the earliest known painted version, in one handscroll, of this litany praising the manifold mercies of the bodhisattva Kannon (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara). This chapter with illustrations, singled out for special worship, was popular in China as early as the Tang dynasty. A Song-dynasty printed version reached Japan by the thirteenth century.
According to the calligrapher’s inscription, this scroll, made in 1257, was modeled after a Song printed book of 1208, which in turn was based on a painted scroll. No Chinese model for this scroll has been discovered, but many similar printed versions from later periods are preserved in China and Japan. The anonymous artist who transformed the Chinese original into a painted handscroll inventively incorporated indigenous yamato-e elements, especially in the landscapes.
#8802. "Universal Gate" Chapter 25 from the Lotus Sutra (Illustrated Sutra of The Miracles of Kannon)
Signature: Sugawara Mitsushige (the writer; painter is unknown)
Masayasu Asukai Japanese, Japan (1491; sold or given to Yamato-no-kami Oda).; Shizuhiko Kosetsu , Japan (1951; sold or given to the Fujita Family Collection).; [ Yamanaka & Co. , New York, until 1953; sold to MMA].
New York. Asia Society. "The Image and the Word: Buddhist Manuscript Illuminations," April 9, 1987–June 7, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manifestations of the Merciful Bodhisattva: Kannon," 1989.
Nara National Museum. "Depictions of Buddhist Scriptures," April 28, 1990–May 27, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan," November 5, 1991–December 15, 1992.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seasonal Pleasures in Japanese Art (Part One)," October 12, 1995–April 28, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art in Early Japan," 1999–2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Enlightening Pursuits," February 28–August 5, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sense of Place: Landscape in Japanese Art," May 8–September 8, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Paintings from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection," October 1, 2002–March 2, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Birds, Flowers, and Buddhist Paradise Imagery in Japanese Art," February 14–June 13, 2004.
Zurich. Museum Rietberg. "Kannon. Divine Compassion- Early Buddhist Art from Japan," February 18, 2007–April 9, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Animals, Birds, Insects, and Marine Life in Japanese Art," June 26–November 30, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Storytelling in Japanese Art," November 19, 2011–May 6, 2012.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan," August 17, 2013–January 12, 2014.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met," February 14 - September 27, 2015.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art," April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.
Akiyama Terukazu, Shimada Shūjirō, and Yamane Yūzō, eds. Zaigai Nihon no shihō (Japanese Art: Selections from Western Collections): Emakimono (Narrative Scroll Painting) vol. 2, Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1980, pls. 54–60.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, p. 242, fig. 6.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 20–21, pl. 6.
Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所, ed. Nyūyōku Metoroporitan Bijutsukan, kaiga, chōkoku ニューヨークメトロポリタン美術館，絵画・彫刻 (Painting and sculpture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Kaigai shozai Nihon bijutsuhin chōsa hōkoku 海外所在日本美術品調查報告 (Catalogue of Japanese art in foreign collections) 1. Tokyo: Kobunkazai Kagaku Kenkyūkai, 1991, p. 18, cat. nos. 52.1-2.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, p. 94, fig. 6.
Watanabe, Masako. Storytelling in Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 6–9, fig. 2.
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