Art, Hiking and Travel in Japan - Kamakura: The Art of Zen Buddhism - Tokyo National Museum - Tokyo

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Kamakura: The Art of Zen Buddhism

Seated Figure of Hojo Tokiyori, colors on wood with crystal eyes, H 69.5cm
Kenchoji Temple, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture (Photos courtesy Tokyo
National Museum)

For a sect based on finding enlightenment inside oneself rather than in the trappings of the world, Zen Buddhism and its temples have accumulated some amazing stuff.

This show, in honor of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Kamakura’s Kenchoji temple, reveals Zen’s focus on quality over quantity in significant works from Japan’s oldest Zen temples. Buddhist sculpture and paintings, handwritten records, and ceremonial artifacts (many being shown for the first and only time) create a picture of Kamakura’s Chinese-style temple life, re-orienting the popular understanding of Zen art away from flowers and tea (many Zen-influenced traditional arts like rock gardens, ikebana, Noh masks and the tea ceremony were largely formulated and practiced by lay people, not monks) and toward seated wooden sculptures of stern, steely-eyed priests.

From "The Thirty-three Manifestations
of Kannon (Avalokitesvara)," attributed
to Kenko Shokei, Muromachi period,
15-16th century, ink on silk, 51.8x
128.5cm, Kenchoji Temple, Kamakura,
Kanagawa Prefecture

Japanese monks returning from China introduced Chinese Zen (or Chan) at the end of the 12th century. But due to resistance from Kyoto’s esoteric Buddhist sects, Zen failed as an independent force in the capital at that time. This exhibition posits Kamakura as the birthplace of Japanese Zen because it was there that Zen first flourished in a “pure” (i.e. not mixed with other strains of Buddhism) and freestanding form.

Sponsorship by the Kamakura bakufu, Japan’s newly formed military government, helped. These warrior leaders liked Zen teachings of discipline and self-reliance, especially as a counterpoint to the decadence of the Kyoto court. The shogunal regent Hojo Tokiyori welcomed a number of Zen monks to Kamakura, the most important of whom was Lanxi Daolong, a prominent Chinese master. Together they established Kenchoji as Japan’s first true Chinese-style Zen temple in 1253.

During the 13th century, Chinese and Japanese monks frequently traveled back and forth across the Sea of Japan. With these exchanges arrived the Chinese objects in the show—Song Dynasty lacquer trays and celadon incense burners, embroidered silk wrapping cloth, and printed books. Ink paintings were also popular. The examples here show what monks brought with them (masterpieces by Mu Qi), what they painted in Kamakura (Mt Fuji, birds, other monks), and how painting developed over subsequent years (e.g. 14 paintings from the series "The Thirty-three Manifestations of Kannon (Avalokitesvara)," attributed to Shokei). Calligraphy evolved too, as seen in handwritten poems, letters, Buddhist regulations and lectures.

The show’s undisputed highlight, however, is the wide range of sculpture—from Hummel-sized 19th-century bronze arhats (wise men) to chunky, wide-eyed Taoist guardians to the glossy, Shonan-bronzed skin and bony sternum of Daolong's 13th-century wooden likeness.

Eleven of these dwarf-sized carved wooden Zen patriarch sculptures sit cross-legged throughout the show. Such chinzo portraits were originally limited to paintings. Following training, the monk-teacher awarded disciples with his portrait as a kind of living diploma that could communicate through the spiritual gravity captured in the monk’s facial expression.

Seated Figure of Lanxi Daolong,
Kamakura period, 13th century,
lacquered wood with crystal eyes,
H 62.9cm Kenchoji Temple, Kamakura,
Kanagawa Prefecture

The sculptures are temple-wide chinzo memorials. Compared to the idealized, generic features of lounging bodhisattvas and lotus-bound Buddhas seen at the end of this excellent show, the wooden monks have an almost Catholic physicality and intense individuality: Wuxue Zuyuan’s Mona Lisa smile, Dongming Huiri’s crater-like eye sockets and drooping lids, and Myogan Shoin’s furrowed brows and half squint. Their piercing inlaid crystal eyes neither offer compassion nor elicit empathy. It’s not surveillance either—they look through you, not at you. Follow my lead, they seem to say, by focusing your gaze on things you can’t see.

This exhibition was held May-July 2003 at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan.