Illustrated Biography of the Priest Ippen (Color on Silk; by Hogen En'i)

Fifty-Two Years from Important Cultural Property to National Treasure

Illustrated Biography of the Priest Ippen (Color on Silk; by Hogen En'i) (絹本著色一遍上人絵伝, Kenpon Chakushoku Ippen Shonin Eden) is a set of handscrolls owned by Shojokoji in Kanagawa Prefecture, designated a National Treasure on 29 March 1952 after becoming an Important Cultural Property on 7 April 1900.

Fifty-two years separate the two. Most of the paintings covered here have the field for Important Cultural Property left blank, having gone straight to National Treasure. Both fields are filled here.

A listing in 1900 is among the earliest encountered so far, after Kitano Tenmangu in 1897.

One Scroll of Twelve Is Held Elsewhere

One scroll of this work is recorded separately.

Illustrated Biography of the Priest Ippen, by Hogen En'i, scroll seven, is at the Tokyo National Museum and owned by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage. It is one scroll, of the Kamakura period, dated 1299.

Its commentary states: of the twelve scrolls in all, this one is scroll seven, running from Sekidera in Omi to the spreading of the nembutsu in the capital.

One scroll out of twelve rests with a different owner, and its designation as a National Treasure carries the same date as this work, 29 March 1952.

The summer landscape and the autumn and winter landscapes were likewise listed on one day while kept apart. What differs here is that a single scroll from the middle of one set has been separated.

The Year of Making Is Fixed

The record for scroll seven also gives the circumstances of its making.

It depicts the life of Ippen, founder of the Ji school, and was made in 1299, the tenth year after his death, by Hogen En'i.

The year is fixed, and the tenth year after his death is offered as the reckoning. The painter's name sits inside the angle brackets of the title.

Among the paintings covered here, the screens of pines and flowering plants leave the artist field empty, while the Saigyo scrolls carry their painters in a supplementary note. This work puts the painter in the title itself.

Of the manner, the record says that it adds Song and Yuan technique to the yamato-e tradition, and that its finely observed backgrounds deserve notice. That, however, belongs to the record for scroll seven, not to this one.

Another Set of the Same Name Has Ten Scrolls

A point of care: this is not the only work called Illustrated Biography of the Priest Ippen.

The Kobe City Museum holds a detached fragment, of the Kamakura period, color on paper, 28.6 centimetres by 49.1 centimetres, one sheet. Its commentary describes it as the first half of section five of scroll four, out of ten scrolls in all.

This work runs to twelve scrolls; that one to ten. The number differs. Despite the shared name, they are different works.

The support differs too. This work is painted on silk, the fragment on paper.

As with the three works named Fugen Enmei, a name alone will not identify a property. Number of scrolls, support and owner are what tell them apart.

The Copy Is Complete in Twelve

A copy of the work exists as well.

The Tokyo National Museum holds a copy made in 1840, in the Edo period, in twelve scrolls.

The original has its seventh scroll with a different owner, while the copy stands as twelve scrolls in a single record.

The copy's artist field lists six names in succession. Where the original is by En'i alone, the copy is the work of several hands.

With the paintings of the six realms, a copy carried a prefectural listing. Original and copy recorded separately has now appeared twice.

Shojokoji, at Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, owns the work. It is a temple holding, not on permanent display; handscrolls are vulnerable to light, and all twelve are not necessarily shown at once. With scroll seven at the Tokyo National Museum, occasions to see the whole together are rarer still.