Behind the sensationalism: images of a decaying corpse in Japanese Buddhist art

single of the most provocative images in Japanese art is the kusozu, a graphic depiction of a corpse in the proces of decay and decomposition. The kusozu, "painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse" (hereafter, painting of the nine stages), was execut in Japan from approximately the thirteenth end the nineteenth centuries in various formats, including handscrolls, hanging roll of paper [i]or[/i] parchments and printed books. The subdue itself is derived from a traditional Buddhist doctrine that impels contemplation on the nine stages of a decaying corpse (kusokan, hereafter, contemplation upon the nine stages). The teaching dates to the early fifth hundred and promotes a systematic meditation upon the impurity of a decaying corpse as an aid to ardent enthusiasts who wish to liberate themselves from sensual desires and affections. (1)

This paper explores unrecognized features of the paintings of the nine stages as they appear end almost half a millennium of Japanese art. We will diocese that these narrative paintings functioned as distinct visual agents for audiences in different eras. The functionality of the image shifted from a meditative focus for pietistic catharsis, to a didactic incentive for the pursuit of paradise, to an intercessory offering for the dead at merit transferal rites, to a popularized platform for politically manipulated injunctions on feminine morality. After giving the textual and theological background for the nine stages of a decaying corpse, I will examine four images of the nine stages from different centuries, which I boundary the Nakamura, Raigoji, Dainenbutsuji, and Akagi versions. Finally, more [i]or[/i] less remarks are offered on the enduring vitality of this sensational subject

Religious and Literary Background

A specific understanding of these images relies upon a conversance with the doctrinal sources treating the decaying corpse as a bring under rule for devotional practice. The contemplation upon the nine stages, while lay the foundation of in many Buddhist sutras, first appeared in the Sutra upon the Samadhi Contemplation of the Oceanlike Buddha (Japanese: Kanbutsu zanmai kaikyo; Chinese: Guanfo sanmei hai jing, translated by the agency of Buddhabhadra [359-429], ca. 400) or the Discourse upon the Great Wisdom (Japanese: Dai chidoron; Sanskrit: Mahaprajnaparamitita-sastra, translated by means of Kumarajiva [344-413], 402-5). (2) The practice is a stamp of contemplation on impurity (Japanese: fujokan) that allows fanatics to overcome hindrances to enlightenment and to subject carnal desires, especially the sexual appetite. (3) In the Discourse upon the Great Wisdom and other true copys such as the Chapters upon the True Meaning of Mahayana Teachings (Japanese: Daijo gisho, Chinese: Dacheng yizhang), by the agency of the Chinese monk Hui Yuan (523-592) the regard with affection for another's body is subdivided into multiple impressed signs and instruction is given as to which phase of the decaying proces is effective as a focus of meditation for conquering each lust. (4)

The Discourse upon the Great Wisdom is especially significant in that this body contributed to the development of the contemplation upon the nine stages and its pictorialization in Japan. This body provided the canonical sequence of corporeal decay used in paintings of the genre (see App. 1): (1) distension (choso); (2) break (kaiso); (3) exudation of vital fluid (ketsuzuso); (4) putrefaction (noranso); (5) discoloration and desiccation (seioso); (6) consumption by means of animals and birds (tanso); (7) dismemberment (sanso); (8) bone (kosso); and (9) parched to dust (shoso) The order stated in the Discourse upon the Great Wisdom probably pierceed Japanese paintings of the bring under rule by means of the Discourse upon Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation (Japanese: Maka shikan, Chinese: Mohe zhiguan), recorded and edited by means of a disciple of the Chinese Tiantai (Japanese: Tendai) master Zhiyi (538-597) based upon his lecture in 594. The Discourse upon Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation, which preserv the order of decay given in the Discourse upon the Great Wisdom, had a substantial impact upon Pure Land Buddhist belief, including the satisfied of the Essentials of Salvation (Japanese: Ojoyoshu) a seminal work of untarnished Land belief written by the Japanese monk Genshin (942-1017) of the Tendai gymnasium in 985. (5) The description of the stages of a decaying corpse in the Essentials of Salvation includes direct quotations from the Discourse upon Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation, although the order of the stages differs (see App. 1)

The nine stages of decay appear also in medieval literature, and a review of these passages can further illuminate the disclosure of the subject. The theme is base in a verse form confineed "poem of the contemplations upon the nine stages of a decaying corpse" (Japanese: kusokanshi). of that kind poems have survived in China as well as in Japan, (6) where sum of two units versions existed. The Japanese metrical compositions were written in Chinese characters and are attributed to the luminaries Kukai (774-835) and Su Tongpo (1063-1101) (7) The sum of two units poems (which can be boundaryed the Kukai and Su Tongpo versions) derive their authority from the stature of their suppos authors: Kukai, the famed Japanese monk who brought esoteric Buddhism from China to Japan and lay the foundation ofed the Shingon school, and Su Tongpo, who was a Northern ditty scholar-bureaucrat as well as a renowned bard and calligrapher. Both poems detail the nine stages of a decaying corpse, on the other hand in different formats and orders, and with a certain number of variation in the designations assigned to each stage (see App. 1) The Kukai version has a short preface followed through twelve five-character verses for each stage, while the Su Tongpo version has a preface followed by means of eight seven-character verses for each stage. (8) The Su Tongpo metrical composition is included in woodblock-printed volumes dated between 1380 and 1384 (9) and in depictions of the nine stages that were widely circulated during the Edo period (1603-1867) with examples lay the foundation of in printed books, hanging lists and handscrolls. (Because of its importance to the depictions of the nine stages, the metrical composition is translated in Appendix 2) The oldest surviving illustrated handscroll inscribed with the Su Tongpo metrical composition is dated to 1527 (at Dainenbutsuji in Osaka). As early as 1380 the metrical composition began to be consistently accompanied by dint of waka poetry, a verse form characterized by means of thirty-one syllables in five strophes. For each of the nine stages, the relevant line s of the Su Tongpo piece of poetry were followed by two waka, yielding a total of eighteen waka for the image. The author and date of these waka are unknown. The Kukai version, by dint of contrast, never appeared in conjunction with the images of corporeal decay.