@article{oai:tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006359,
 author = {柳澤, 孝 and Yanagisawa, Taka},
 issue = {322},
 journal = {美術研究, The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies},
 month = {Dec},
 note = {The work reproduced in the colour and monochrome plates of the present paper is an extraordinary Mahāmayūrī painting which has never been introduced. It belongs to the third type of painted Mahāmayūrī which will be explained later. Numerous examples of pictures representing Mahāmayūrī riding on a peacock remain and, among the Japanese examples, six are designated as Important Cultural Properties. All of these extant pieces, including the present one, are four-armed, based on the description in Ta-k‘ung-ch'iao-ming-wang- hua-hsiang-t'anch'ang-i-kuei translated by Pu-k'ung (Amoghavajra) into Chinese, but they vary in the way of holding the attributes, the form of the peacock, and in other points. The present author classifies the extant pieces into three types in terms of these characteristics.
     A large part of them, such as the one in the Tokyo National Museum, belongs to the first type. Here Mahāmayūrī is a frontal figure with a head halo and a body halo and the peacock is also frontal with hanging wings, thus altogether emphasizing frontality, and sacred jars are placed at the four corners. The entire composition gives a maṇḍala-like impression. The Tokyo National Museum piece which represents this type is a product of the twelfth century, but the grave depiction of the subject and its expansive size in the picture plane are reminiscent of Early Heian Period tendencies. Not only that, it has much in common with the styles of the deities in the Garbhadātu Maṇḍala of the Takao Mandara and Esoteric Buddhist sculptures of the ninth century. Therefore, the present author proposes the idea that the iconography used in this piece could be traced back to the time of the Mahāmayūrī painting made by the order of Priest Kūkai in the twelfth year of the Kōnin Era (821). She considers that there are many examples of this type because it has such an orthodox background.
     The only example which belongs to the second type is a piece owned by the Hōryūji. The Mahāmayūrī depicted in a quarter profile stretches its four arms in a spontaneous feeling of movement. The peacock turns its head to the right and raises its wings. The author supposes that the iconographical origin of this type must be around Late Tang, but not as late as the end of Northern Sung as has been widely believed.
     The only example of the third type is the work in a private collection which is introduced in this paper. Mahāmayūrī is a frontal figure like the Tokyo National Museum version, but the position of the arms is not the same. The peacock raises its wings and turns its head to the right as in the Hōryūji version, but the body is oriented in the opposite direction. It is different from the earlier mentioned two types in that the peacock stands on a lotus base. Mahāmayūrī does not have a head or body halo; instead, it is equipped with a circular mondorla entirely filled with a design of peacock feathers. The ocular patterns of these feathers are pointed upward, while they are pointed downward in the Hōryūji version. This third type is supposed to have been created by adding new elements to those derived from the first two types. A slightly coloured iconographical drawing of Mahāmayūrī preserved in the Daigoji in Kyoto is almost identical with this piece not only in the typological characteristics but also in the size. There is a tradition that the Daigoji drawing represents a ceremonial main image used by Priest Kangen (852–925), the first archbishop of the Daigoji. Furthermore, Henkushō, a collection of the words of Priest Seigen (1162–1231), refers to Kangen's Mahāmayūrī with the same typological characteristics as the Daigoji drawing. The drawing is a copy of an earlier painting and the copy was made in the early Kamakura Period, but the iconography is archaic and reminds us of the sculpture of Amitābha triad in the Ninnaji said to have been made in the fourth year of the Ninna Era (888). These facts seem to indicate that the archetype of this iconography would date back to the time of Priest Kangen.
     Accordingly, the piece introduced here is in the line of what Priest Kangen used, but the deity is more Late Heian-like and more graceful in form with drooping shoulders compared to the plump appearance of the Daigoji drawing. The colour of the body is pale red and it is graded in darker red. The face is round and looks like that of a girl. The drapery is whitish except for the waist sash and decorated with fine patterns. The peacock is intricately depicted with applications of gold and silver foil from behind the silk, and with blue, green and red pigments on the obverse side. The peacock feather design in the mandorla enhances the impression of the deity. The work itself must be from the late twelfth contury. The moon inscribed with a Sanskrit letter of “a” is on a cloud at the upper end of the composition and bubbling clouds are painted around the lotus base.
     Although this is a small piece, it is a noteworthy work from the point of view of painting and iconographic history.},
 pages = {1--15},
 title = {異色ある孔雀明王画像},
 year = {1982}
}