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Iconographical Sketch (Zuzō) for the "Benevolent Kings Sutra Mandala"

Unknown

1104

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Medieval Religious Heian Period

Dominant colour

Iconographical Sketch (Zuzō) for the "Benevolent Kings Sutra Mandala" is a 1104 unspecified by Unknown, depicting Heian Period, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1104
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a tall, narrow scroll filled with tiny ink figures of gods, each seated on clouds or lotus petals. This is a cheat-sheet for monks. It shows exactly how to draw the deities in the *Benevolent Kings Sutra* so rituals look the same every time. The original sketches came from China in the 800s, but this copy was made in Japan centuries later. To see more quiet ritual guides like this, look up the subject: japan, heian period (794–1185).

The story of this work

Overview

The Benevolent Kings Sutra has been a highly valued Buddhist scripture in Japan since the Nara period (710–794), when it started to be recited in a ceremony to pray for the peace and protection of the country. In the 800s, the monk Kūkai brought back from China a new translation of the text as well as Buddhist iconographic sketches to perform the rituals based on the sutra. Five scroll sets of copies of the original sketches brought by Kūkai are preserved in Daigoji and Tōji temples in Kyoto. This sketch, which has figural depictions of deities on the front and deities symbolized by objects…