著者

猪川 和子

雑誌

美術研究 = The bijutsu kenkiu : the journal of art studies

巻号頁・発行日

no.287, pp.1-18, 1973-10-30

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The Gokokuin (Kimiidera) in Wakayama City owns some sculptural images from the Late Heian Period. Their principal images are an Elevenheaded Avalokiteśvara, which is the main images of the temple, and a Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara. Besides, there are two Bodhisattvas, purported to be Brahmā and Indra, and another Eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara. In this paper the author makes a comparative study of these with similar sculptures in adjoining regions, such as eight Avalokiteśvara images of the Kanshinji in Kawachi-Nagano City, Osaka, an Avalokiteśvara image owned by the Ueda District Office in the same city, statues of the Kōonji in Kaizuka City, Osaka, and others. The main image, the Eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara of the Gokokuin is a statue carved out of single block of Japanese Judas-tree wood. The head is proportionally large. The way of carving shows a slightly naive, local character and is close to the Eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara of the Kaijūsenji in Kamo Town, Kyoto, and the Elevenheaded Avalokiteśvara of the Taimadera in Taima Town, Nara. The Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara of the Gokokuin has forty large arms and nine hundred and sixty smaller arms. The facial expression has something in common with the Bhaiṣajyaguru Triad of the Katsuodera in Mino City, Osaka. The two images purported to be Brahmā and Indra are perhaps Bodhisattvas, judging from their costumes. The one called Indra has a round face with a childish expression and is brightly painted. The drapery is carved skillfully and the entire statue is neatly worked. According to a document dated 1082, written by Myōshō, a priest of the Yakushōji once located near the Gokokuin, Myōshō was engaged in the work of colouring the sculptural images of two important temples in Kyoto, the Enshūji and the Hosshōji. This fact implies a close relationship between this region and Kyoto in the field of the production of Buddhist images and it is easily understood that the image called Brahmā reflects the refined taste of the capital. The statue called Indra is stylistically quite similar, except for the fact, in comparison it shows a more localized taste. There are eight standing statues of Avalokiteśvara in the Kanshinji, Osaka, and some of them show stylistic kinship to these two images of the Gokokuin. The type of crown, the countenances and the colouring effects have some features in common with the two images of the Gokokuin and share their modest and elegant characteristics. The statue of Cuṇḍī owned by the Yakushiji in Nara City (970) and the statue of Avalokiteśvara of the Yūnenji in Ikaruga Town, Nara, (1069) are two dated similar works in adjoining regions. These, however, are rather different in style. Among the contemporaneous Buddhist statues in the Osaka area, the Avalokiteśvara owned by the Ueda District Office of Kwachi-Nagano City is presumed by the author to be a work by a sculptor of Kyoto. It is more in the Kyoto style than the statues of the Gokokuin and the Kanshinji. The author thinks that it is in the same stylistic line as the Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara of the Hosshōji, Kyoto. The statues in the Kōonji, Osaka, and the one in the Yūnenji still retain to some extent features of the Early Heian Period sculptural style, while also exhibiting local characteristics. The author thus defines the stylistic positions of the statues of the Gokokuin.