Seeing Speech, Reading Bodies: Manifestations of Language in Japanese Buddhist Visual Cultures of the Thirteenth Century
Dine, Susan
2021
Abstract
This dissertation examines the refinement of and increased experimentation with representations of “language-bodies,” or simultaneous representations of both the embodied presence of a Buddhist deity and spoken or written word, in Japanese painting and sculpture of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In particular, I present visual works that used language-bodies to navigate challenges at a variety of levels: individual, familial, monastic, societal, etc.. This study’s methodology centers visual analysis in combination with textual analysis, consideration of networks, and a biographical approach. While previous studies generally focus on a single sect or image type, I assemble case studies from different Buddhist groups in premodern Japan to explore broad trends in representations of language of the time. I argue that while language had long been used as a salvific and apotropaic tool, the increased use of language-bodies within newly-developed Buddhist imagery in the thirteenth century stemmed from the scope and scale of political, physical, spiritual, and ecological disasters throughout the preceding twelfth century. In this context, Buddhist practitioners both in mainstream and marginalized positions understood language to be a powerful tool for navigating such shifting societal, religious, and personal challenges. Although works with language-bodies increased in number and type during the thirteenth century, it is important to understand their antecedents. In Chapter One, I explore early considerations of the power of words in Japan and evidence of ninth-century works as the earliest use of “language-bodies” in Japan. The next three case studies are early to mid-thirteenth-century works that simultaneously innovate and draw from those earlier conceptions and representations. Chapter Two examines early thirteenth-century paintings and sculptures illustrating the monks Shàndǎo (613-681) and Kūya (903-972). These works manifest language-bodies in a physical, anthropomorphic forms as buddha figures emerging from the open, chanting mouths of the monks. This chapter also addresses the ways concepts regarding the depiction of language could move within networks of people, places, and objects, thus providing an example of language-bodies functioning at a broader societal level. Chapter Three’s central object of study is a hanging scroll painting linked to the monk Myōe’s (1173-1232) sanji sanbōrai (“worship of the Three Treasures thrice [daily]”) ritual, depicting language-bodies as enthroned Siddhaṃ characters and phrases in Sino-Japanese characters. Combining close visual analysis with a biographical approach incorporating Myōe’s life and written works enables a nuanced understanding of language-bodies by considering how such images may work at the individual and small community levels. In Chapter Four, I consider the earliest extant kōmyō honzon (“radiating light” icon) painting, developed within Shinran’s (1173-1263) Buddhist community and containing both figural and textual icons. This kōmyō honzon painting evinces a multiplicity in meanings and uses of language-bodies, built on the interplay between components of the image and the work’s viewers. The objects considered in this dissertation allow us to explore the ways that material and immaterial challenges were addressed using language-bodies to leverage Buddhist power and authority as well as the legitimacy of the past. The project is relevant to a variety of disciplines in considering what visual culture can reveal about the non-semantic layers of language, premodern perceptions of these layers as manifested in visual forms, and the levels of response—from personal to societal—in using language-bodies to counterbalance upheaval.Deep Blue DOI
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Japanese studies Text and image Buddhist studies
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