@article{oai:tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006162,
 author = {塩谷, 純 and Shioya, Jun},
 issue = {390},
 journal = {美術研究, The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies},
 month = {Dec},
 note = {This article introduces the Kannon Sutra by Kikuchi Yôsai (1788-1878), today in the Oriental Manuscripts department of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. This painting, originally made up of two handscrolls, was formerly in the collection of Alexandre-Auguste Lesouëf (1829-1906), and each scroll was more than 12 meters long and worked on silk. The scrolls consisted of interleaved sections of sutra text and painted image from the Chapter on the Universal Gate (J: Kannonkyô) of the Lotus Sutra (J: Hokkekyô). The end of the second scroll has a dated inscription by Yôsai himself, and a colophon by Matsuda Suro (1783-1852), a Chinese studies scholar and colleague of Yôsai. The author of the scroll, Yosai, has attracted attention in recent years as the patriarch of modern history painting in Japan, and is also known for his writing, particularly his illustrated biographies of historical figures published under the title Zenken kojitsu.
     According to Yôsai's inscription, the scrolls were commissioned by Nakamura Butsuan (1751-1834), an antiquities collector and researcher. Butsuan was more than 30 years older than Yôsai, and indeed, he died in 1834 without seeing the completion of the scrolls. In spite of these factors,
Butsuan and Yôsai enjoyed a firm friendship, and an extant work shows their collaboration, the Ryûzu Kannon (1830) with painting by Yôsai and text by Butsuan. Yôsai, whose editorial work on the Zenken kojitsu demanded original source research and dating confirmation, clearly valued his interactions with Butsuan, who had worked with Matsudaira Sadanobu on his Shûko jusshu illustrated compendium of antiquities published in 1800.
     A special characteristic of these scrolls is the use of contemporary Japanese settings for the majority of scenes in which Kannon (S: Avalokitesvara) saves the souls of sentient beings. Conversely, the section of the sutra that depicts the 33 manifestations of Kannon has been completely omitted. The source for these characteristics can be found in the gruesome depiction of contemporary figures in distress, seen in Maruyama Ôkyo's Seven Fortunes, Seven Misfortunes (1768). Yosai lived in Kyoto during the Bunsei era (18181829) and visited various temples and shrines as he gathered materials for his Zenken kojitsu work. Thus it can be thought that he had ample opportunity to know about the imagery of the Seven Fortunes, Seven Misfortunes work. In addition, Yôsai's breadth of knowledge and education can be seen in summation of the preceding century of discussion. While this lack is because she has intentionally discarded the prevalent stance of Itô Chûta and later scholars who discussed Buddhist sculptural creation from the Asuka period arts through the Northern Wei dynasty, when a Japanese scholar is discussing Chinese culture, one effective approach is to set Japan as the basis point of discussion. I look forward to future developments from this author.

Bibliography:
Ishimatsu Hinako, Buddhist Images in the Northern Wei Period, Brücke, Tokyo, January 2005},
 pages = {31--39},
 title = {図版解説　菊池容斎《観音経絵巻》［フランス国立図書館蔵］},
 year = {2006}
}