著者

熊谷 宣夫

雑誌

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

巻号頁・発行日

no.194, pp.29-39, 1957-12-10

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The first expedition of the Ōtani Mission in 1902 brought back a terra-cotta figure of Jivajivaka (P1. V) and a smaller figure of the same (Fig. 2). The twin heads of the larger Jivajivaka are obviously those of a man and a woman, while those of the smaller Jivajivaka show man-like monkeys, examples of which are considerably numerous in Khotan. The Saiiki Koko Zufu (Illustrated Archaeology of Chinese Turkistan) describes both of them to be from Kum-tura, but it is evident, through comparison with the collections of terra-cotta figures by Hedin and Stein, that they were made in Khotan. These collections, however, do not contain any piece of Jivajivaka. As far as known to date the subject figure is the only specimen of its kind. The wall-painting from a small cave-temple at Sängim-aghis near Turfan, brought back by the second and third German Missions under Le Coq in 1904-1907 (Fig. 6; Chotscho, Tafel 15–c), contains pictures of two Jivajivaka, one with heads of young man and woman, and the other with heads of a boy and girl. At the centres of the scenes containing these Jivajivaka respectively are love scenes of Indian-style men and women, and the two-headed birds appear to play the part of glorifying their love. However, the only mention of Jivajivaka found in Buddhist scriptures is the one in the Fo-pen-hing-tsi-king Sutra, Vol. 59, which tells a story about a two-headed bird living in the Snow Mountains (the Himalayas) whose two heads quarrel with each other. Ancient Chinese tales have various two-headed animals. One of them, with a bird's body, is known as Pi-i-niao (birds with common wings), but their heads are not those of humans. In 1955 a hundred odd bronze Buddhistic objects were discovered in Hsi-hsia-hsien, Honan, China, one of which (Fig. 1), like the subject terra-cotta figure and that in the wall-painting, was a Jivajivaka with heads of man and woman. These three examples from Khotan, Turfan and Honan were probably made during the seventh century in which T'ang China kept these districts under its single control. As examples later than the above-mentioned three, there are a couple of Kalavinka depicted in the foreground of the Land of Sakyamuni (Fig. 4), a painting brought back from Tun-huang by Stein in 1908 (Thousand Buddhas, Pl. VII); in a fragment of a wall-painting also brought back by Stein in 1915 from Kara-Khoto (Fig. 5; H. Andrews: Wall Paintings, Pl. IX) the Jivajivaka resumes its two bird heads. It seems to have been a tradition over a long period of time in China to couple a Jivajivaka with a Kalavinka; the Ying-tsao-fa-shih (Architectural Codes), Vol. 33 by Li Ming-chung of the Sung Dynasty describes them as a pair to be used for a motif of architectural ornamentation (Fig. 3). As the Buddhist scripture tells, both Jivajivaka and Kalavinka are supernatural birds with melodious voices, and are indispensable companions in ceremonies of worshipping the Buddha, but their unique characteristics lead us to think that they appear to be along the line of the Sirens of the west. The terra-cotta figure from Khotan, located westernmost of the above-mentioned three districts, is a plastic work having something in common in form with the bronze figure of Siren in Louvre (Fig. 9; THL. 100-c); the radial pattern on its damaged halo is similar to that on an Persian silver dish (Fig. 10) introduced by Dalton (Treasure of the Oxas, Pl. XXI), and also with that on a terra-cotta disk from Yotkan (Fig. 11; Serindia, Pl. II) which was imitated after the dish. The terra-cotta figure, thus, is rich in western flavour. Its woman head, however, which has its hair dressed in tall T'ang style coiffeur, indicates eastern element also at work. The subject matter of the wall-painting from Sämgim-aghis is certainly in Indian style, but its manner of depiction is entirely in T'ang style, and the wave patterns found in the painting are of the same kind as those presented in low relief on the lotus pond in what is known as Lady Tachibana's Shrine which evidences T'ang inspiration. Because it is a wall-painting, it could have as well freely described a legendary tale, but the present writer, not well versed in Buddhist scriptures, can only hazard a conjecture that the men and women in them may possibly be spirits of water. The bronze figure from Hsi-hsia-hsien is more of a relief work than of full sculpture, and the workmanship shown here is crude; although it is a recently discovered piece, it is less expressive than the previously known two. This terra-cotta figure in sculpture, and the pictures in the wall-painting from Sämgim-aghis, are to be called fine specimens which have rendered the unusual creature with human feeling and rich effect of reality.