@article{oai:tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006453,
 author = {関口, 正之 and Sekiguchi, Masayuki},
 issue = {306},
 journal = {美術研究, The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies},
 month = {Mar},
 note = {Some of the thirty-two Bodhisattvas in the column paintings, inside the pagoda of the Saimyōji, seem to have been retouched after the primary execution of the paintings. These are Vajrapāramitā, Vajratīksna, Vajrādharma, Vajrahetu, Dharmapāramitā, Vajrakarma and Karmapāramitā. The rest of the images, which are unretouched, have the following characteristics.
     1) The body is delineated by fine, sharp and intense lines of an almost even thickness. The lines of the drapery-folds, on the other hand, are thicker and freer. Although the difference between these two kinds of lines is not as pronounced as that found in the lines of the painting of “Twelve Devas” by Shōga TAKUMA, owned by the Kyōōgokokuji. But this combination of these two kinds of lines suggest that the Saimyōji pagoda paintings were executed about the same time as the “Twelve Devas” by Shōga.
     2) The figures have heavy-looking heads, while their bodies do not look very massive. The colouring of drapery and lotus pedestals is bright. Here, large areas of red and deep blue do not dominate, but light green and gold are the main tones.
     3) The semi-circular upper halves of the pupils are seen in the half-closed, narrow and long eyes. The C-shaped curves of the eye-sockets are clearly drawn. This manner of depicting eye-sockets is seen in almost all of the Kamakura Period Buddhist paintings. This fact, therefore, also suggests that it is a work of the Kamakura Period. At the same time, this manner of depiction also appears in the majority of Sung Dynasty Buddhist paintings in Japan. In Tung-huan murals, this kind of depiction is noticeable in works from the last stage of the T'ang Period, and in a large portion of works from the Five Dynasties and the Sung Period. In other words, this type of depiction was due to the influence of Chinese Buddhist paintings at the end of the Late Heian Period or in the Early Kamakura Period.
     4) The colours of the thirty-seven deities in the Vajradhātu Mandala are indicated in iconographical books. The colours of the Bodhisattvas of the Saimyōji pagoda paintings are different from those described in Hizōki, a fundamental iconography book, but are close to the Sampuku-bon Version Mandala set in the Kyōōgokokuji.
     5) All Bodhistattvas except three are painted facing the front. Even Vajrapușpā and Vajradhūpā, which are painted in profile in most examples of the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala face the front. On the other hand the two Bodhisattvas Vajragitā and Vajranṛtyā, on the columns behind the platform of the pagoda face their right-hand side. The orientations of these Bodhisattvas are contrary to those in ordinary versions of the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala. This implies that the figures in the Saimyōji pagoda paintings are not mere copies of the figures in Vajradhātu Mandala, but a creative modification in relation to the layout of the four columns and the platform.},
 pages = {12--26},
 title = {西明寺三重塔四天柱絵金剛界諸菩薩像―続―},
 year = {1977}
}