Illustrated Biography of the Priest Honen (Color on Paper; text by Emperor Fushimi and seven other hands)

The Forty-Eight Scroll Biography of Honen

The Illustrated Biography of the Priest Honen (Color on Paper; text by Emperor Fushimi and seven other hands) (紙本著色法然上人絵伝〈詞伏見天皇外　七筆〉) is forty-eight Kamakura-period scrolls illustrating the life of the priest Honen, owned by Chion-in in Rinka-cho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1955 were designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records forty-eight scrolls owned by Chion-in.

According to the Jodo Shu encyclopedia, it is also called the Honen Shonin Gyojo Ezu, the Chokushu Goden or the Forty-Eight Scroll Biography, completed in the early fourteenth century.

Origins

According to the encyclopedia, the texts were compiled by the Tendai monk Shunsho, and the work covers not only Honen's life from birth to the persecution of the Karoku era but also his main disciples. At 548 metres, with 235 text sections and 232 pictures, it is among the largest picture scrolls.

Tradition holds that Retired Emperor Gofushimi ordered Shunsho to bring together earlier biographies, and that the work took more than ten years from 1307; the texts are said to have been written by Gofushimi, Fushimi and Emperor Gonijo and copied by noted calligraphers, though art historians find that more than ten painters and calligraphers each were involved, none identifiable.

What to Look For

The encyclopedia notes that the name Chion-in first appears in this work and the term Jodoshu recurs often, so it is seen as presenting Honen, the Jodo school and Chion-in as one.

Chion-in describes it as a biography that also conveys Honen's teachings through his sayings, letters and writings, and includes his disciples and the emperors, courtiers and warriors who followed him.

Visiting the Illustrated Biography of the Priest Honen (Color on Paper; text by Emperor Fushimi and seven other hands)

The scrolls are owned by Chion-in and are not always on display; check the temple's announcements.