Miracles of Bodhisattva Kannon: Pilgrimage to the Western Lands

Abstract

The series of prints Miracles of Bodhisattva Kannon: Pilgrimage to the Western Lands (Kannon Reigenki Saikoku Junrei, 1858-1859) represents a kind of virtual journey through the sacred places of Japan - in the temples where Kannon bodhisattva is worshiped. Each of the sheets in the series is divided into two parts: at the top there is a landscape with a temple and a song of pilgrims, below is a story about a miracle with illustration. In the stories, ancient legends alternate with cases from the recent past; illustrations give the heroes, and noble, and simple, "theatrical" look, refer to Kabuki scenes. The stories feature a complete set of the wonders of Kannon, listed in the Lotus Sutra. Belief in Kannon takes on different guises: sometimes we are talking about undoubtedly supernatural phenomena, in others – the help of a bodhisattva serves to explain a completely ordinary sequence of events. On different sheets, the miracle is shown in various ways, often due to the compositional combination of landscape and “plot” parts, the text of the song and the story. Among the heroes of the stories - the famous monks, famous poets, rulers and their entourage, as well as ordinary people; The series covers events from legendary antiquity until recently, putting them all at one time - the time of miracles, celebrating the special mercy of bodhisattva Kannon to the people of Japan. The preface briefly describes the history of the pilgrimage to thirty-three temples of the western lands and the history of the series. The following is a translation of selected stories with a commentary to them and to the corresponding prints, as well as a summary of the remaining stories, with the aim of showing the internal coherence of the series.