The Yakushiji Hachiman Triad: Shinz6 of the Eleventh, and Twelfth Centuries

~ The Yakushiji Hachiman Triad

The seated statues of Hachiman as a monk attended by two goddesses in court 'tlI attire from Yakushiji's chinjusha, the Yasumigaoka Hachiman Shrine, differ sharply ~/"in style and technique from those in Toji. The latter are among the rare life-size " seated shinzo; the diminutive Yakushiji triad (Plates 24-26), whose figures are " roughly thirty-six centimeters high, is more typical. The Toji statues are the only shinzo in the mokushin kanshitsu style; the Yakushiji triad, like the vast majority of shinzo, are carved from a single woodblock in the wood style. The Yakushiji Hachiman triad is a pivotal group. Although it dates to the tenth century, and so has features relating to works discussed in Chapter 5, it also heralds developments in the shinzo tradition of the following centuries.

Setting The present Yasumigaoka Hachiman Shrine, built in 1604 under the patronage of Toyotomi Hideyori, has been extremely well preserved, 1 while its counterpart at Toji was destroyed by fire in 1868. As with most shrines, it is not possible to enter that at Yakushiji, but its con tents, removed to museums for safekeeping or sold to private collections, have become readily accessible to scholars. These cast light on the interior decor of a shrine, a little under stood subject. Located just outside the walls of the Yakushiji compound, Yasumigaoka Shrine con sists of three buildings joined to form a V-shape, each with an elegantly elongated cypress bark roof covering the porch and front steps (Plate 22). This so-called nagare zukuri style is characteristic of many shrines from the Kamakura period on. Before their transfer to the Nara and Tokyo National Museums for safekeeping, it is likely that the statues of Hachiman, Jingli Kogo, and Hime-gami were installed, hidden from view, in each of these adjoining buildings. The walls inside were once painted with images of various kami (Plate 23), but

61 ELEVENTH- AND TWELFTH-CENTU RY SHINZQ

these panel paintings have been removed to the temple's museum. First executed in the Kanji era (1087-1094), they were repainted in 1295 by Gyogon, an artist of the nearby KOfukuji painting atelier. While a few other examples of shrine panel paintings are known, including one set dating to the twelfth century, none is as well preserved. 2 The Yakushiji paintings represent rows of twenty-two male and female kami, primarily tutelary deities of the Nara region. Each deity is seated on a low wooden platform with metal ornaments and is backed by a single panel screen. The deity's name is inscribed on a cartouche to his upper right. The subject of the screen provides clues to the locale associated with the deity. For instance, Tatsuta Myojin appears in front of a maple tree ablaze with leaves, a famous feature of the Tatsuta River bank in autumn. All but Yanagimoto Myojin wear court garb. His priestly attire is an example of the practice of portraying kami other than Hachiman as monks. The representation of kami seated on platforms backed by screens is not unique to the wall panels of Yasumigaoka Shrine. It is a convention used in other paintings and in some statuary as well (see Chapter 7). The custom of arranging kami on square wooden daises with screens stems from court practice. It distinguishes the representation of kami from that of Buddhist deities who are generally shown seated on lotus-shaped pedestals with oval or round mandorlas behind them. In addition to the panel paintings, a few other shrine accessories have been preserved. Bannerlike curtains believed to have been placed protectively around the Hachiman triad are still kept in the shrine. A late Heian period armrest also from the shrine is now in the collection of the Fujita Art Museum. Statues of koma-inu, "lion-dogs," which once stood guard at the shrine's entrance are today on display in the Yakushiji Museum. These accessories also testify to the influence of court practices. 3

Descrip tion Small in scale yet ample in proportions, the statues of the Yakushiji Hachiman triad form a close-knit group (Plates 24-26).4 Their body structure, obscured beneath heavy garments, combines with their disproportionately short legs to make them appear rather solid and squat; The deep and sharp chiselling of drapery folds and the sense of volume are characteristic of wood-style sculpture. Hachiman's garment is described as a complex arrangement of swags embellished with scroll-like flourishes. The treatment of the two attendants' robes is more restrained but shares the starchy, broad rendering of pleats and folds. Only minor iconographic features distinguish the Yakushiji Hachiman (Plate 24) from the image at Toji (Plate 1). The former is represented with the left hand outstretched, palm upward as if holding an object such as a jewel, and the right resting flat on his knee, pointing downward in a manner recalling the Buddha's earth-touching gesture. The Yakushiji Hachi man was never intended to grasp a staff and rosary like the Toji version. Such iconographic diversity is typical of Hachiman imagery. Pronounced differences, however, separate the attendants at Toji and Yakushiji, reflect ing the greater influence of court dress and practices on the latter pair. While the Toji attendants are seated in the Buddhist lotus position with hands outstretched to receive ritual