juuroku rakan　十六羅漢

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Sixteen arhats *rakan 羅漢. The saintly ascetics who gathered at the death and nirvana nehan 涅槃 of the Buddha Sakyamuni *Shaka 釈迦 and were ordered by him to remain in this world as witnesses to the truth of the Law or Buddhist teachings. Typical depictions in painting or sculpture show them with aged faces, emaciated bodies and the frugal clothing of Indian ascetics or wisemen. As listed in the Fazhuji (Jp: HOUJUUKI 法住記) translated into Chinese by Xuanzang (Jp: Genjou 玄奘: 602-64), the sixteen are: Bindorabaradaja 賓度羅跋羅惰闍 (Sk: Pindolabharadraja); Kanakabassa 迦諾迦伐蹉 (Sk:Kanakavatsa); Kanakabaridaja 迦諾迦跋釐堕闍 (Sk: Kanakabharadraja); Subinda 蘇頻陀 (Sk: Subinda); Nakora 諾距羅 (Sk:Nakula); Badara 跋陀羅 (Sk: Bhadra); Karika 迦哩迦 (Sk:Kalika); Bajaraputara 伐闍羅弗多羅 (Sk: Vajraputra); Jubaka 戌博迦 (Sk:Jivaka); Hantaka 半託迦 (Sk:Panthaka); Ragora 羅怙羅 (Sk:Rahula); Nagasena 那伽犀那 (Sk:Nagasena); Ingada 因掲陀 (Sk:Angaja); Banabasu 伐那波斯 (Sk:Vanavasin); Ajita 阿氏多 (Sk:Ajita); and, Chudahantaka 注荼半託迦 (Sk:Chudapanthaka). A largely different group of sixteen rakan is mentioned in the sutra, AMIDAKYOU 阿弥陀経, with only Bindorabaradaja and Chudahantaka being the same. Traditions also exist of groups of eighteen juuhachi rakan 十八羅漢 and five hundred arhats *gohyaku rakan 五百羅漢. Paintings of the sixteen arhats are known to date from the Tang dynasty and were produced frequently in China through the Song dynasty, typically as wall paintings or sets of hanging scrolls. In general, Chinese rakan painting can be divided into two stylistic types which influenced the development of two painting traditions in Japan. The orthodox style, featuring careful attention to detail, rich color, and gold, is associated with the Northern Song painter Li Longmin (Jp: Ri Ryuumin 李竜眠, also known as Ch: Li Gonglin, Jp: Ri Kourin 李公麟: 1049?-1106). These works are known as riryuuminyou rakan 李竜眠様羅漢. In contrast, the Five Dynasties priest Guanxiu (Jp: Kankyuu 貫休; 832-912) created a distinctive ink monochrome style of rendering the sixteen arhats, known as *zengetsuyou rakan 禅月様羅漢. In Japan the subject is said to have been introduced from China in 982 by the priest Chounen �｢然 (?-1016). Several sets of Chinese paintings extant in Japanese collections testify to the early popularity of the subject in Japanese temples. Japanese versions, like their Chinese prototypes, typically were done as a set of sixteen hanging scrolls or with the rakan grouped in one or two hanging scrolls. In both countries, because of the relative humanity of the subjects and their "foreign-ness" paintings of the sixteen arhats became exercises in grotesquerie or realism, the very frequency of commissions offering artists chances to explore distortion of form or to display their virtuosic control of the brush. The theme was particularly popular at Zen temples, where polychrome wood sculptures of the juuroku rakan were often placed in the second floor chamber of the gates *sanmon 三門 of Zen temples ; for examples Toufukuji 東福寺, Nanzenji 南禅寺, and Myoushinji 妙心寺 in Kyoto. In the Edo period the juuroku rakan images continued to be produced, but by artists not associated with temples, and the paintings were used in secular contexts. The juuroku rakan were even parodied by *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists. Edo period gardens sometimes feature 16 stones arranged in reference to the juuroku rakan.

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