jikkai-zu　十界図

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Lit. Picture of the ten realms. In Buddhism the ten realms jikkai 十界 refer to the ten realms of being, which are divided into two groups. The first group comprises the six realms of transmigratory existence, which are those of gods tenjou 天上 (see *ten 天), humans jin 人, demigods *Ashura 阿修羅, animals chikushou 畜生, hungry ghosts *gaki 餓鬼 and hell jigoku 地獄. The second group comprises the four realms of enlightened existence, which are the realms of listeners to the Buddhist teachings shoumon 声聞, self-enlightened beings engaku 縁覚, bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩 and Buddhas hotoke 仏. The first six are collectively known as the six paths rokudou 六道, and depictions of these are called *rokudou-e 六道絵. Depictions of all ten realms are rare; there was formerly a set of thirty hanging scrolls at Shoujuraigouji 聖衆来迎寺 (Shiga prefecture) dating from the mid-Kamakura period, but only the fifteen representing the "six paths" have survived. In a variation called "picture of the ten Dharama-realms for perfect and sudden meditation on the mind" Endon kanjin juuhokkai-zu 円頓観心十法界図 found in the Tendai 天台 sect, ten circles portraying existence in each realm are arranged around a central circle inscribed with the character for 'mind' shin 心 and the whole is circumscribed by a single large circle. The term jikkai-zu also refers to works that combine the rokudou-e with scenes of *Amida's 阿弥陀 Pure Land, a format that developed with the growth of the Pure Land faith. A reknown example in the form of two hanging scrolls is kept at Zenrinji 禅林寺 in Kyoto, and another example, consisting of a pair of six-panelled folding screens, is preserved in the Oku-no-in 奥院 at Taimadera 当麻寺 in Nara. The daimandara 大曼荼羅 used in the *Nichiren 日蓮 sect (see *Hokke mandara 法華曼荼羅) is also known as the ten-realm mandala jikkai mandara 十界曼荼羅 because it includes the ten realms, and it too might be regarded as a variation of this genre.

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