zounai nounyuuhin　像内納入品

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Also nounyuuhin 納入品, tainai nounyuuhin 胎内納入品, tainai nounyuubutsu 胎内納入物. Objects found in the inner hollow of a Buddhist statue. There are a great variety of zounai nounyuuhin, and items including written documentation have been especially useful to scholars investigating the origin and history of Buddhist figures. Paper items include: prayers recorded in writing by the donor of the statue, zouryuu ganmon 造立願文; names of petitioners aspiring to the Buddhist faith, kechien koumyouchou 結縁交名帳; copies of sutras; and Buddhist prints, *inbutsu 印仏 and *suribotoke 摺仏. Wooden items include plaques bearing the sculptor's signature, date, and other information about construction; miniature stupas, *gorintou 五輪塔; and small Buddhist figures, *tainaibutsu 胎内仏. There are also reliquaries made of crystal, precious metals, stone or lacquer, containing bones of the Buddha *shari 舎利. Other zounai nounyuuhin include glass vessels, coins, jewels, mirrors, fabrics, grain, medicine, and household items. The Seiryouji Shaka nyoraizou 清凉寺釈迦如来像 (Kyoto), brought from China in 987, contains paintings and other artifacts, as well as a silk-fabric model of Buddha's inner organs, *gozou roppu 五臓六腑. Sutras and relics inside a figure are believed to give the statue its soul, investing it with the spirit of a living being, a concept known as shoujin shisou 生身思想. Early Japanese examples are the Yakushi nyoraizou 薬師如来像 in Toushoudaiji *Kondou 唐招堤寺金堂 (Nara), which has coins enclosed in the skirts of the statue, and the Senju Kannonzou 千手観音像 in Touji Jikidou 東寺食堂 (Kyoto), where relics are contained in the *byakugou 白毫 (forehead curl), and cypress fans hiougi 桧扇 in carved out hollows under the arms. In wooden statuary, hollowing techniques *uchiruri 内刳, and building figures from hollow joined blocks *yoseki-zukuri 寄木造,　developed during the Heian period (9-12c), making large spaces in the bellies of the statue available for zounai-nounyuuhin. This culminated in the Kamakura period (13c), when the quantity and variety of examples are greatest. The Juuichimen kannonzou 十一面観音像 in Housekidera 宝積寺 (Kyoto) and the Amida Sanzonzou 阿弥陀三尊像 in Ankokuji 安国寺 (Hiroshima prefecture), contain a range of petitions and written documents. Representative collections of zounai nounyuuhin are found in Kamakura period statues in Saidaiji 西大寺 (Nara) such as the Aizen Myouou 愛染明王(1247), Shaka nyoraizou 釈迦如来像 (1249), and Monju Bosatsu-kishizou 文殊菩薩騎獅像 (1293). In the Kamakura, a bronze seated Amida figure, *Daibutsu 大仏, of 11.4m (13c), where worshippers can physically enter the statue, and a ladder leads up into the head where there is a small image and shrine.

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