gobu shinkan　五部心観

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

A collection of iconographical line drawings *hakubyou 白描 in handscroll form depicting the deities of the *Kongoukai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅; strictly speaking, the six mandara explained in Chap. 1 of the KONGOUCHOUKYOU 金剛頂経 (Sk: Sarvatathag atatattvasam graha); together with their mudras *in 印 and mantras (Singon 真言: True Words). Its full title is ritasougyara gobu shinkan 哩多僧蘖五部心観. It was brought to Japan from China by Enchin 円珍 (814-91), as were the *Taizou zuzou 胎蔵図像 and *Taizou kyuuzuyou 胎蔵旧図様, but, whereas the originals of the latter two works have been lost and only copies exist, the original version of the gobu shinkan has been preserved at Onjouji 園城寺 in Shiga preference, a temple that was restored by Enchin. In content, the gobu shinkan is considered to reflect the traditions of the lineage of Shanwuwei (Jp: Zenmui 善無畏, Sk: Subhakarasimha; 637-735), who first introduced to China the Esoteric Buddhism mikkyou 密教 of the DAINICHIKYOU 大日経 (Sk:Vairocanabhisambodhi sutra / or Mahavairocana sutra); and it represents an early form of the Kongoukai mandara predating the *Kue mandara 九会曼荼羅. There are two manuscripts of this work preserved at Onjouji, one of them a complete manuscript and the other incomplete, with part of the first half missing. Previously it had been thought that the latter incomplete version represented the original manuscript brought to Japan by Enchin, but following an examination of the sanskrit script bonji 梵字 used in the two manuscripts Takada Osamu 高田修 concluded that it was the complete manuscript that represented the original version , and this view is still generally accepted today. The complete manuscript is a rare example of an iconographical collection of simple line drawings dating from the late Tang dynasty, while the incomplete manuscript is a fine example of similar drawings from the Heian period, and both have been designated national treasures. Because the gobu shinkan was carefully preserved as a rare work brought to Japan by Enchin and was not generally made public, it did not exert much influence on the Buddhist iconography of Japan, although there does exist a commentary called ROKUSHU MANDARA RYAKUSHAKU 六種曼荼羅略釈 (A Brief Commentary on the Six Mandala), and in recent years it has been confirmed that a number of its illustrations were copied in other works.

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