Legends of the Yūzū Nembutsu Sect

14th century

Artist unknown
Japanese, active 14th century

One of the most important and beautiful records of Amidism, a Buddhist salvation theology, is this rare narrative handscroll. It recounts details from the life of Ryōnin (1073–1132), a charismatic Tendai monk who founded the Yūzū sect. The Buddhist concept of yūzū refers to the interrelationship or initial oneness of all things. The dynamically new approach to salvation that Ryōnin developed from yūzū reasoned that if all things are interrelated, the meritorious action of one individual benefits many. Followers of Amidism registered their names in a tally book, pledging to recite the brief nembutsu prayer, an invocation of the Amida Buddha, at specific times during the day. Contrasted with the dense and elite ritual of Buddhist teachings of the Heian period (794–1185), this simple, more populist approach to Buddhism had enormous appeal. Commissioned and executed in the mid-fourteenth century, during the revival of the Yūzū sect, this lengthy horizontal scroll is unrolled from right to left and intended to be studied in successive sections each approximately the width of the viewer’s shoulders.

Status: On View, Gallery 104
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: Legends of the Yūzū Nembutsu Sect
Place: Japan (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1301–1400
Medium: Handscroll; ink, colors, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 30.5 × 1176.9 cm (12 × 460 in.)
Credit Line: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
Reference Number: 1956.1256
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/56731/manifest.json

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