Page 383 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Usually these paintings are considered to be China during the eighth century. Unfettered by
zenki zu (didactic Zen painting), a strong tradition precise description in a particular religious text,
comprising imagined formal portraits of Zen mas- the image was an amalgam of several other
ters as well as narrative paintings of such revered Kannon images, notably the Kannon with Wish-
adepts at moments of Enlightenment or in other Granting Jewel and Wheel of the Law (Nyoirin
well-known incidents of their lives. The Flight of Kannon) and the Willow-Branch Kannon (Yoryu
the Sixth Patriarch illustrates the traditional Zen Kannon). Poses ranged from the serious and con-
account whereby Hui-Neng (J: E'no, 638-713), templative, seen here, to the position of "royal
chosen successor to the Fifth Patriarch, Hong- ease," to playful lounging and foot-splashing in
Ren, fled south to avoid the jealous wrath of the pool or stream or waterfall that was a neces-
Shen-Xiu, the learned monk who had expected to sary element of the setting.
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"receive the robe/ Hui-Neng's flight marked (or The White-Robed Kannon in Daitoku-ji, attrib-
symbolized) the division of Chan (Zen) into the uted to the Chan (Zen) abbot Mu Qi (13th cen-
so-called Northern and Southern schools —the tury), is considered to be the seminal work of its
former, stemming from Shen-Xiu, espousing type for Japanese painters. In the depiction seen
gradual Enlightenment, the latter, from the nearly here Noami accepted the general iconography
illiterate but profound Hui-Neng, instantaneous of the Mu Qi but rendered it in a painting style
Enlightenment. The patriarchal succession from incorporating the angular brush strokes and
Bodhidharma through Hui-Neng was a retrospec- washes of Ma Yuan, i.e., in what was perceived to
tive construction, designed to advance the cause be the academic style of Southern Song China
of the Southern school, which in fact emerged (1127-1279). Noami's access to and close study of
triumphant. detail the Ashikaga shoguns' Chinese painting collec-
In the adjoining scene the Chan master Xiang- tion is readily apparent in this painting. This is
yan Zhixian (J: Kyogen Chikan, d. 898) is seen 224 one of the few firmly attributed Noami works;
sweeping in front of his hut. Xiangyan, in con- several other Byaku-e Kannon paintings, gen-
trast to Hui-Neng, was greatly learned, but Noami erally thought to be by his hand, reveal totally
having failed to achieve Enlightenment, he aban- 1397-1471 different approaches to this serviceable and
doned his books and retired to a life of rural seclu- popular image.
sion and manual labor. One day the sound of WHITE-ROBED KANNON Noami was the first of the "three Ami"
a pebble, sent flying by his broom and striking (BYAKU-E KANNON) (succeeded by Geiami [1431-1485] and Soami
the nearby bamboo, brought on the moment of dated to 1468 [d. 1525]), each of whom functioned as artist, aes-
Enlightenment. Japanese thetic advisor, and cultural impresario (doboshu)
Even outside their original context these paint- hanging scroll; ink and light colors on silk for the Ashikaga shogunate. The "ami" suffix to
ings reveal an artist with a commanding ability to 77-7 39-3 (3o /8Xi^/2) their names indicates adherence to the tenets of
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manipulate space and to render detail precisely. Pure Land (Jodo) Buddhism, in particular the
Middle-ground bands of voluminous clouds link Hasebe Yasuko Timely (Ji) subsect established by the charismatic
and frame the action in each scene and serve fur- mendicant Ippen during the second half of the
ther to divide the narrative foreground from the In Noami's vision the White-Robed Kannon, com- thirteenth century. Pure Land Buddhism and its
hills and trees that evoke deep distance. The effec- posed, attentive, and attractive, is seated atop a offspring sects offered formulaic prayer repetition
tive balance of foreground anecdote and back- fantastical rock beside a tranquil body of water. as an uncomplicated way to rebirth in Amida
ground vista was surely decorative as well as Bending bamboo and densely rendered back- Buddha's Western Paradise. An iconography of
instructional. Some would suggest that, content ground clouds evoke a tropical atmosphere. The gentle, compassionate deities, shown inhabiting
notwithstanding, Motonobu's aesthetic interest in painting, dedicated to the artist's son on the occa- worlds of supramundane beauty and bliss or
these paintings was more decorative than Zen. sion of his receiving the tonsure at a Zen monas- engaged in acts of intercession within this-
Within a few years of this commission Motonobu tery, depicts one of the iconographic subjects most worldly genre settings, afforded painters the
produced the Seiryo-ji Engi (1515), a set of six popular among Zen adherents. opportunity to develop a style appropriately
narrative scrolls depicting the miraculous found- The White-Robed Kannon is a form of the bo- linking religious sentiment with indigenous
ing and other legends of Seiryo-ji, which demon- dhisattva derived from the fusion of two distinct landscape.
strates convincing command of the narrative scriptural references. The "Fumon" chapter of the As painters, the three Ami worked a sophisti-
format previously dominated by the Tosa painters. profoundly influential Lotus Sutra (J: Hoke Kyo) cated transformation of the popular polychrome
Motonobu moved the Kano atelier firmly in the names the thirty-three manifestations of Kannon, genre style associated with Pure Land Buddhism
aesthetic direction begun by his father, Masanobu the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who seeks to and especially the Ji subsect. At the same time,
(1434-1530), achieving a substantial and remark- relieve the suffering of sentient beings and whose though the elite circles they moved in were heav-
ably varied patronage and thereby a considerable name means, literally, "one who hears the cries of ily influenced by Zen, the three Ami tended to
and lasting prosperity. The fusion of Chinese the world/' A passage in the Avatarhsaka Sutra temper the stringency and challenging ambiguity
brush style and Japanese palette was a hallmark (J: Kegon Kyo) describes Mt. Potalaka, the imag- characteristic of much Zen painting. This very
of Kano painting well into the Edo period ined abode of the bodhisattva Kannon, as a boun- painting embodies the complexity of fifteenth-
(1615-1868). tiful locale of fruit, flowers, and flowing waters. century Japanese high culture: a popular Zen icon
It should be noted that Soami (d. 1525), third As early as the Tang dynasty (618-907) the offered by a Pure Land adherent on the occasion
generation of the distinguished Ami lineage, Chinese popular religious imagination trans- of a son taking Zen tonsure, but stylistically
also worked on the decorations of the Daisen-in, formed Mt. Potalaka into an island off the south closer to academic or professional painting than
contributing landscape painting on fusuma China coast. Depiction of Kannon in this intimate to the direct, abbreviated, expressive manner
considered to be his masterpiece. y.u. paradisiacal setting is thought to have begun in that was thought to embody the Zen intention, j.u.

382 CIRCA 1492