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Art in Japan>Asian Art 100B.C.E.-1930>Treasures of a Great Zen Temple: Nanzenji Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan. Treasures of a Great Zen Temple: Nanzenjiby John McGee  Kano Tanyu, Tigers (from the
Nanzenji Abbot's Quarters), Edo Period (17th It's gaudy. It's kitschy. It's a jellyfish-shaped hanging lampshade. Woven from 150,000 colored glass beads, its "God's eye" panels, floating "dream catchers" and dangling strands scream "hippie-crafted beaded curtain." Actually it came from Ming Dynasty China. So what's it doing in Nanzenji, one of Kyoto's most venerable Zen temples? What indeed, grasshopper. Usually the shade holds an oil lamp and hangs in front of a more sedate wooden sculpture of temple founder Emperor Kameyama (1249-1305). That's right, Nanzenji was the first Zen monastery established by a member of the imperial family. This show honors the 700th anniversary of Kameyama's death and traces the history of the temple and its important figures through its art—from the long gorilla arms of a 10th-century Heian Period wooden Bodhisattva to the 15th-century plans for the Buddha Hall (a series of dots and kanji) to gold Edo Period fusuma (sliding doors). This is the first time the treasures of Nanzenji and its subtemples have been shown in their entirety (though not all at once—many pieces are rotated). Like last year's larger Zen art of Kamakura exhibition, it helps bring to light the enormous bounty often hidden in Japan's temples. 
Cloistered Emperor Kameyama, In 1289, Kameyama abdicated, became a monk, and retired to his villa at the base of Kyoto's Higashiyama. Two years later he converted his place into a Rinzai Zen temple. Painted portraits, wooden sculpture, embroidered silk surplices, and assorted documents give form to Emperor Kameyama and others who helped found the temple. Nanzenji, literally "Southern Zen Temple," played an important role in the rise of Zen in Kyoto, and for much of its early history it was considered more prestigious than the Gozan—the five major Zen temples of Kamakura and Kyoto. It became a cultural center where monks came to study, paint and compose poetry. National Treasure Arbor Hidden in Ravine (1413), a masterpiece of shigajiku (hanging scrolls with poems and paintings), shows the height of such work with its various inscriptions written above a small ink landscape. More than just literati, Zen monks also functioned as diplomats. Through the early Muromachi Period (1392-1572), they traveled frequently between Nanzenji and China and Korea. The temple quickly amassed Buddhist artifacts from mainland Asia, like Ming Dynasty celadon incense burners, Southern Song ink paintings (including Huizong's Autumn and Winter Landscapes), Goryeo Dynasty Korean Odes to the Buddha, and that crazy lampshade. 
Glass Bead Lampshade,
Ming Dynasty In 1467, Nanzenji burned to the ground during Kyoto's Onin Wars. Rebuilding started in 1604 (Kameyama's 300th anniversary) and continued under influential monk Ishin Suden until the temple flourished once again. Some of Nanzenji's best-known features these days are its interior landscapes, painted across multi-paneled fusuma. Each of the many sets here—it must be drafty at Nanzenji this winter—has a distinct feel. Hasegawa Tohaku combined powerful and delicate ink brushstrokes in Zen Patriarchs (1602). Maruyama Okyo stuck with a languorous style for his ink painting Boat Ride on a Moonlit Night (1787). And Kano Tanyu wowed with color. His Tigers (17th century) chase each other past green bamboo and through fields of gold leaf. _______________________________________This exhibition was held Jan-Feb 2004 at Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan. ©2006 John McGee |
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