Art Institute of Chicago

Legends of the Yūzū Nembutsu Sect

Artist unknown

Date

Kamakura period (1185–1333), 14th century

Medium

Handscroll; ink, colors, and gold on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This long narrative handscroll recounting events in the life of the charismatic monk Ryōnin (1072–1132) is both endearingly personal and deeply spiritual. We fi rst encounter Ryōnin as a recluse in Ōhara, north of Kyoto, where he remained in prayer and meditation for twenty-four years while his fame as a holy man spread. One day the Amida Buddha appeared to him in a dream, riding in on a pedestal of clouds and radiating golden light. The vision told him to redirect his path toward enlightenment not by studying the sutras and living in isolation but by chanting a simple nembutsu prayer—an invocation of the Amida Buddha—with a pure heart, and teaching others to do the same. Inspired by his dream, Ryōnin developed a dynamic new approach to salvation based on the Buddhist concept of yūzū, which refers to the interrelationship or initial oneness of all things. Given this connection, the meritorious action of one individual benefi ts many. The remainder of the scroll shows the monk taking this teaching into the world, starting his appeal with the imperial court and eventually converting all the humans and deities that make up Japan’s spiritual universe. Seeing these miraculous events unfold as each section of the scroll was opened to the width of an arm’s length and viewed close-up would have had a great impact on medieval viewers. This rare work remains one of the most important records of a more populist approach to Buddhism that had enormous appeal in contrast to the elite rituals of other sects.

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