hensou　変相

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ch: bianxiang. Also called hen 変 (Ch: bian) or kyouhen 経変 (Ch: jingbian). Transformation scenes, tableaux, or other pictorial representations which show the various illusionary manifestations of Buddha figures and their Buddha realms, often rather schematically arranged. The sanskrit term parinama means transformation, and indicates a readily accessible visual presentation, or transformation, of a more abstrusely written Buddhist teaching. The term henbun 変文 (Ch: bianwen) refers to a popular Tang genre of literature with religious and secular content related to oral storytelling with pictures. Moreover, Chinese records dating from the Six dynasties and Tang dynasty indicate that bianxiang (hensou) is also applied to depictions of various Buddhist narratives, such as *honjou-zu 本生図, *butsuden-zu 仏伝図, and *hiyu setsuwa-zu 譬喩説話図, almost the way the term *setsuwaga 説話画 is commonly used. The term hensou is also associated in China and later in Japan with visual props used in recitations by male and female preachers or storytellers to an audience *etoki 絵解 and therefore the illustrations typically have narrative content. Numerous Chinese examples are extant in the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang (Jp: Tonkou 敦煌) dating from the late 6c/early 7c-10c. Following such Chinese precedents, many paintings termed hensou were also produced in Japan. The most popular Japanese depictions were those of paradises described in the sutras *joudo hensou 浄土変相, such as *Kangyou hensou 観経変相, *Amida joudo hensou 阿弥陀浄土変相 and *Hokekyou hensou 法華経変相. These depictions often focus on a Buddha in the center of the painting with scenes derived from narratives in the sutras around the borders. After the Heian period, the term *mandara 曼荼羅, a geometrically organized diagram of the Buddhist cosmos popularized by esoteric Shingon 真言 Buddhism, often replaced the term hensou, such as *Taima mandara 当麻曼荼羅, *Chikou mandara 智光曼荼羅, *Seikai mandara 清海曼荼羅 (collectively known as *joudo sanmmandara 浄土三曼荼羅).

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