Study of the diversion of the iconography in the form of a divine general

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23007
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0101:Philosophy, art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Tanaka Mizuho 神戸大学, 人文学研究科, 人文学研究科研究員 (70844984)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 日本美術史 / 仏画 / 神将形図像

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study verifies that the various heavenly deities depicted around the principal image in Buddhist paintings are appropriated and quoted among different heavenly deities regardless of their names, and that only the "form" of the image is treated like a pattern.
After comparing iconographies focusing on the Jurokuzenshin(sixteen guardian deities) and the Nijuhachibushu(twenty-eight attendants of Senju Kannon),it was found that there are examples of iconographies surrounding the principal image being created by citing Hakubyo iconographies or appropriating them between different deities. In this way, it became clear that new iconographies were created using only the "form" of the iconography as a pattern. Although many issues remain to be addressed, the results provide a base for future iconographic research.

Free Research Field

日本美術史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本尊の周囲に描かれる天部等の研究において、作品個別の図像的な典拠を求めることはあっても、逆に典拠となった図像がその作品を含めてほかのどのような作品に引用・転用されたのか、大系的にまとめられることがなかった。
本研究は多くの図像を比較することで、神将形図像の引用・転用関係について、また複数で構成される天部等の像容についての基礎的な研究となることを目的としたため、今後の本分野の研究の発展に貢献する可能性を有する。