View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt AMIDAJI: MORTUARY ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND RITES OF EMPEROR ANTOKU’S TEMPLE by Naoko Gunji BA, Seisen University, 1995 MA, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2001 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Naoko Gunji It was defended on May 14, 2007 and approved by Katheryn Linduff, Professor, History of Art and Architecture Evelyn Rawski, Professor, History Linda Penkower, Associate Professor, Religious Studies David Wilkins, Professor Emeritus, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Advisor: Karen Gerhart, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture ii Copyright © by Naoko Gunji 2007 iii AMIDAJI: MORTUARY ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND RITES OF EMPEROR ANTOKU’S TEMPLE Naoko Gunji, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2007 My dissertation analyzes the art, architecture, and rites related to mortuary ceremonies for Emperor Antoku and the Taira at the Buddhist temple Amidaji in Shimonoseki City in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Amidaji served as a mortuary temple for the eight-year-old emperor Antoku and the Taira clansmen, who, defeated in the final battle of the Genpei War, jumped to their deaths in the cold seas off the coast of Akama in 1185. Because the child emperor and the Taira drowned themselves, their spirits, unable to access the next world, were believed to become malicious ghosts who threatened the living and the nation. Amidaji, constructed in front of the battle site and where Antoku’s body was believed to be interred, assumed major responsibility for the rituals to appease these ghosts and to assist them in attaining rebirth in the Western Paradise of Amida Buddha. Despite its importance, Amidaji was abolished and was then replaced by a Shintō shrine during the persecution of Buddhism in the late nineteenth century. The buildings of the temple were demolished and the majority of Buddhist icons and implements were destroyed. Several key artworks, including the portraits of Antoku and the Taira as well as the sliding-door paintings depicting the life of the emperor, survived; however, the removal of artworks from the architectural settings where rituals took place stripped their primary functions. In order to recover the lost meanings of the art and architecture of Amidaji, this dissertation positions the art iv and architecture as integral ritual components and attempts to reconnect them with the various contexts in which they actually functioned. My study is based on a visual analysis of surviving works of art and architecture at Amidaji, a close study of textual and pictorial evidence, and a survey of the actual site. I explore the roles of the art and architecture where a variety of elements—artifacts, rites, patrons, and specific circumstances of politics, society, history, culture, economy, and religion— intersected. This study enhances our understanding of the art and architecture of Amidaji and illuminates the broader context where their specific meanings and actual functions were created. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................VIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 2.0 CHAPTHER ONE: AMIDAJI’S MISSION AND ITS EARLY PATRONAGE.14 2.1 INTRODUCTON............................................................................................... 14 2.2 LOCATION OF AMIDAJI .............................................................................. 16 2.3 AMIDAJI’S ORIGIN ........................................................................................ 16 2.4 AMIDAJI’S TRANSFORMATION INTO A MORTUARY SITE .............. 18 2.5 THE VENGEFUL GHOST .............................................................................. 24 2.6 EMPEROR SUTOKU AS THE VENGEFUL GHOST................................. 29 2.7 INITIATION OF THE PACIFICATION RITES FOR ANTOKU .............. 33 2.8 AMIDAJI’S AFFILIATION AND EARLY PATRONAGE ......................... 43 2.9 PRODUCTION OF THE TALE OF THE HEIKE ......................................... 52 2.10 AMIDAJI IN THE LATE THIRTEENTH CENTURY ................................ 56 2.11 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 60 3.0 CHAPTER TWO: RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE COMPLEX ....... 61 3.1 INTRODUCTON............................................................................................... 61 3.2 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LOST TEMPLE COMPLEX .................... 63 3.3 PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS AND PLACING ARTIFACTS IN SPACE....... 70 3.3.1 Main Hall ..................................................................................................... 71 3.3.2 Hachiman Shrine ........................................................................................ 73 3.3.3 Goma Hall.................................................................................................... 76 3.3.4 Spirit Hall .................................................................................................... 79 3.3.5 Reception Hall and Office-kitchen ............................................................ 83 3.3.6 Living Quarters of Monks.......................................................................... 85 3.4 CURRENT SITE ............................................................................................... 86 3.5 UNCHANGED FEATURES............................................................................. 93 3.6 RESITUATING AMIDAJI INTO THE CURRENT SHRINE SITE........... 94 3.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 97 4.0 CHAPTER THREE: ART IN THE SPIRIT HALL............................................... 98 4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 98 4.2 ANTOKU’S PORTRAITURE.......................................................................... 99 4.2.1 Historical Sources on the Portraits ......................................................... 100 4.2.2 Visualization of Hidden Portrait of Antoku ........................................... 106 4.3 PORTRAITS OF THE TAIRA ...................................................................... 109 4.4 DATE OF THE PORTRAITS OF ANTOKU AND THE TAIRA.............. 113 4.5 INVENTORY OF 1739 ................................................................................... 117 vi 4.6 SCULPTED OR PAINTED?.......................................................................... 122 4.7 ILLUSTRATED STORY OF EMPEROR ANTOKU...................................... 127 4.7.1 Description of the Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku ......................... 129 4.7.2 Authorship and Date of the Illustrated Story of Emperor Antoku......... 138 4.8 CIRCUMSTANCE OF THE PRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTINGS...................................................................................................................... 145 4.9 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 149 5.0 CHAPTER FOUR: RITUALS OF THE SPIRIT HALL ..................................... 150 5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 150 5.2 OVERVIEW OF JAPANESE ETOKI ........................................................... 151 5.3 ETOKI FOR SHŌTOKU AND SHINRAN ................................................... 155 5.4 ETOKI OF HISTORICAL EVENTS AS PACIFICATION RITUAL........ 164 5.5 ETOKI AT AMIDAJI...................................................................................... 169 5.6 THE PLACEMENT OF THE ILLUSTRATED STORY OF EMPEROR ANTOKU IN THE SPIRIT HALL .................................................................................. 175 5.7 AMIDAJI AS LIMINAL PLACE .................................................................. 177 5.8 THE POWER OF ETOKI AS REQUIEM .................................................... 182 5.9 MEANINGS OF THE NARRATION OF THE HEIKE AT AMIDAJI..... 187 5.10 MEANINGS OF GOLD AND MOTIFS IN THE PAINTINGS ................. 188 5.11 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 195 6.0 EPILOGUE............................................................................................................... 197 6.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 197 6.2 FROM NORMAL SOULS TO VENGEFUL SOULS.................................. 199 6.3 DECLINE OF FEAR TOWARD THE ANGRY SPIRITS.......................... 201 6.4 THE MONK CHOKUI ................................................................................... 203 6.5 AMIDAJI AND LOCAL FEUDAL LORDS................................................. 206 6.6 AMIDAJI AND TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI ................................................ 212 6.7 AMIDAJI AND EDO TRAVELERS............................................................. 215 6.8 MEIJI PERSECUTION OF BUDDHISM .................................................... 222 6.9 WWII: 1939-1945............................................................................................