# Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest

Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest (Japanese: 高祖御一代略図, Hepburn: Kōso goichidai ryakuzu) (c. 1831) is a series of ten Japanese woodblock prints in ink and color on paper made by ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861). It was published by Iseya Rihei in 1835–1836. The prints, which are in the large, horizontal, multi-colored woodblock format, tell the story of Nichiren (1222–1282), a Japanese Buddhist priest, philosopher and founder of Nichiren Buddhism. The series is referred to by many names, the result of various English translations, with Illustrated Abridged Biography of the Founder one of the more popular titles.
In the Snow at Tsukahara, Sado Island is generally considered the greatest work in the entire series. Claude Monet, who was both fascinated with snowscapes and ukiyo-e, was known to own that specific print and used it to decorate his house at Giverny. The original ten prints are believed to have been used to illustrate Buddhist teaching materials and are part of an ancient illustrated literary tradition ascribed to Buddhist printmaking. It represents Kuniyoshi's eleventh major work since 1820, and somewhere around the 180–190th individual work, of a total of about 1000 works, some of which were variants, duplicates, or multiple individual works as part of a single series.

## Background

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) is best known for musha-e, a genre of ukiyo-e woodblock printing that depicts warriors from history and mythology. His late 1820s musha-e, 108 Heroes of the Suikoden, is cited as the breakthrough work that established his name and contributed to his first major success. Before becoming a master of musha-e, Kuniyoshi tried his hand at 'yakusha-e (depictions of kabuki actors), but was unable to achieve any fame or notability in this genre. Secondarily, Kuniyoshi was known for bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) and for landscapes. The landscape genre in ukiyo-e became popular in the 1830s and 1840s, particularly as expressed in the style and work of Kuniyoshi's colleague Hiroshige (1797–1858), both of whom were students of the Utagawa school. Kuniyoshi's gō, or art name, "kuni", derives from a syllable of his master's gō, Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825). Kuniyoshi's landscapes in the 1830s and 1840s were partly influenced by his knowledge of European art and his collection of Western-style prints.
Kuniyoshi received a commission in 1831 for a new print series in remembrance of the 550-year anniversary of the death of Nichiren (1222–1282), the founder of Nichiren Buddhism. The finished prints were later used for Nichiren Buddhist religious materials. East Asian art historian Mary W. Baskett notes the long, ancient tradition of Buddhist printmaking, tracing woodblock printing traditions in Japan back to Buddhist devotional rituals. The custom of depicting the life of Nichiren in Japanese art was also already well established before Kuniyoshi began his new project. One popular example, The Life of the Priest Nichiren, was a woodblock print produced during the Tenna period (1611–1684), illustrating 17 events in Nichiren's life. It was likely used by religious adherents as a kind of reference work. Nichiren shonin chugwasan, a similar work depicting 89 images of Nichiren's life, was published in 1632. The theme continued during the subsequent Edo period, with another version illustrating 28 images from the life of Nichiren. During the Edo period, the need for printed religious materials increased in use for the purpose of teaching, with Kuniyoshi's work a notable example during this era, along with the older Illustrated Life of Kobo Daishi (early 17th century), depicting the life of Kūkai (774–835), founder of Shingon Buddhism, and the later Illustrated Life of Sakyamumi Buddha (1845) by Hokusai (1760–1849). After Kuniyoshi died, his ashes were interred at the Daisenji temple, a 16th-century Nichiren Buddhist temple in Kodaira, Tokyo.

## Development

Instead of drawing upon the older styles of well known works depicting Nichiren, Kuniyoshi's Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest shows the influence of the Kishi school, particularly the work of Kawamura Bunpō (河村文鳳) (1779–1821) as found in his gafu (picture album), a landscape painting manual known as Bunpō sansui gafu (文鳳山水画) (A Book of Drawings of Landscapes by Bunpō). Kuniyoshi's new approach emphasized a connection between larger figures in the foreground against the background of the landscape. Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest was an example of this new perspective, using the historical figure of Nichiren to demonstrate Kuniyoshi's new technique. One of his most famous works from the series, In the Snow at Tsukahara, Sado Island, gave Kuniyoshi a distinctive look, what art historian Woldemar von Seidlitz (1850–1922) calls "a strength and grandeur of style that gives him a place perhaps even higher than Hiroshige".

## Series

The prints in Kuniyoshi's Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest are listed in chronological order of the life of Nichiren. Kuniyoshi presents romanticized illustrations and legendary accounts of events in Nichiren's life. The title of the series appears on the right margin in red with the mark of the publisher Iseya Rihei (Ise-Ri Kinjudo), while the subtitle appears in black below it. The prints are signed 朝櫻楼 / 国芳画 (Chooro / Kuniyoshi ga).
| No. | Title | Description | Commentary |
| 1 | Tōjō Komatsubara, Eleventh day of Eleventh month, 1264 (文永元十一月十一日東條小松原) | Tōjō Kagenobu and his warriors, including horsemen and swordsmen, ambush Nichiren at Komatsubara in the Awa Province in November 1264. Nichiren is depicted holding up his mala (rosary), whose sparkling crystals confuse his attackers. Nikkyo, his student, is seen in the background, crouching. | In 1253, Nichiren famously criticized Pure Land Buddhism (Amidism), proclaiming the superiority of the Lotus Sutra to the exclusion of all other sects of Buddhism. Ten years later, Tōjō Kagenobu and his warriors, supporters of Pure Land, tried to assassinate Nichiren at Matsubara in Tōjō. According to legend, two of Nichiren's supporters died in the attack and Nichiren himself was cut by a sword on his head and suffered a broken hand. Nichiren Buddhists refer to the event depicted by Kuniyoshi as the "Komatsubara Persecution". Jacqueline Stone notes, "Nichiren's attacks on other Buddhist traditions made enemies." |
| 2 | Praying for Rain at Reizen-ga-saki (文永八鎌倉霊山ヶ崎雨祈) | Above a stormy sea, Nichiren prays at an altar with his mala (rosary) under an umbrella; his prayers appear to be answered by a downpour. | Japan experienced a major drought in the summer of 1271. The government asked Ninshō (1217–1303), the first chief priest of Gokurakuji, to conduct rain rituals. Nichiren, then a lowly monk, criticized Ninshō's supporters, wagering that even he would follow Ninshō if he made it rain in a week. It did not rain, and Nichiren took advantage of the challenge to take on new followers for himself. Baskett notes that the romanticized legendary history depicted in the image might have been added after Nichiren died, although previous artists had also illustrated the "miracle" in the 17th century. |
| 3 | Threatened at Tatsunokuchi in Sagami Province (相州竜之口御難) | Nichiren is seen in prayer, kneeling beside a pine tree by the ocean. He is about to be executed at Tatsunokuchi when the rays from the sun destroy the executioner's sword, averting his death. | Nichiren's incessant attacks on the other Buddhist schools led to Hōjō Tokimune, the de facto ruler of Japan, exiling him to the Izu Peninsula in 1261, which only lasted a few years. Continuing his attacks, Nichiren's enemies obtained the help of the Kamakura shogunate who plotted to behead him. He was brought to Takinoguchi beach at Shichirigahama for the execution, legends recount, but as the sword was about to come down on his neck, it broke in half, with various other supernatural accounts alleged to have occurred to prevent and forestall his death. |
| 4 | The Star of Wisdom Descends on the Thirteenth Night of the Ninth Month (九月十三夜依智星) | Nichiren stands before a plum tree with his rosary, facing the ghostly appearance of the Buddha above the tree. | Writing for Artibus Asiae in the 1930s, Raymond A. Bidwell, who would later go on to donate the largest collection of Kuniyoshi prints in the U.S. to the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, compared this print to early Christian art in Italy. Bidwell wonders if Kuniyoshi was addressing similar subjects and treatments, perhaps "the same spirituality and relationship of man to God as was expressed by the Italian primitives in their pictures of God appearing to the saints". Bidwell lays out his argument for some kind of historical parallel between Japanese and Christian art across the centuries: "...Nichiren and the rough soldiers who have him in custody see in adoration and consternation a vision of The Buddha standing in the branches of a leafless plum tree on a clear moonlight night. The intense beauty of the evening sky and moon against the lace like branches of the aged and gnarled plum tree, make you feel that God must manifest himself directly". Bidwell concludes that Kuniyoshi transcended the Italian painters in his successful approach. |
| 5 | Banishment to Sado Island: Sutra Title on the Waves at Kakuta (佐州流刑角田波題目) | On his way to his forced exile to Sado Island, a large storm in the Sea of Japan threatens to destroy Nichiren's boat and frightened crew. To protect them, Nichiren casts a spell, the first line of the Lotus Sutra, "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō", which appears on the waves. | In 1271, after insulting Hōjō Tokimune, Nichiren was, for the second time, arrested and exiled, this time to Sado Island. According to Japanese myth and legends surrounding Nichiren, the storm was caused by Susanoo-no-Mikoto, a kami associated with the sea and storms. Nichiren was able to calm the sea by using the first line of the Lotus Sutra for protection. Like other images of Nichiren, this was also depicted in previous Buddhist artwork in the 17th century. Art historian Christine M. E. Guth notes the influence of Hokusai (1760–1849) on this work, particularly what she calls a "creative reinterpretation" of the style of Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1831), a style which Kuniyoshi returned to again in his later work, Tametomo's Ten Heroic Deeds (1847–50). |
| 6 | In the Snow at Tsukahara, Sado Island (佐州塚原雪中) | Nichiren walks in the snow on Sado Island. He is depicted climbing, by himself, up a hill covered in snow; the houses in the village are visible below. He wears red robes as snowflakes fall around him. | Baskett notes that upon his exile, Nichiren was left in a cemetery with crude shelter from the elements in the midst of a harsh winter characterized as "one of extreme cold, snow, and hoarfrost". Kuniyoshi's landscape was influenced by artist Kawamura Bunpō, based on a design from his book, Bunpō sansui gafu (A Book of Drawings of Landscapes by Bunpō). Kuniyoshi's colleague Kunisada (1786–1865) also referred to Bunpō's work in his designs. There is general agreement that this print is considered the greatest example of the entire series, with Baskett describing it as "the most loved and accomplished of the prints". The Metropolitan Museum of Art refers to it as a "masterpiece of ukiyo-e printmaking". There are also several print variants of this image, one of which contains a line separating the horizon, and another where the mountain appears brown. Regarding the variant with a line across the horizon, B. W. Robinson writes, "The earlier state of this print has a horizon line bounding sea and sky, which was later removed, causing them to merge into each other", but Hamilton Easter Field disputes this characterization. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), a student of Kuniyoshi, later produced a work based on a similar theme. Claude Monet (1840–1926) experimented with painting snowy landscapes, having painted the largest number out of any other Impressionist. Monet was also fascinated by ukeyo-e design and themes. He was an avid collector of Japanese woodcut prints, and when he died, Monet left behind 231 Japanese prints decorating his house at Giverny, one of which was In the Snow at Tsukahara, Sado Island. |
| 7 | Gazing at the Rock on Komuro mountain, on the Twenty-eighth of the Fourth month, 1274 (文永十一五月廾八日小室山注視石) | In Komuroyama, Nichiren suspends a large rock thrown at him by a Yamabushi. | Various versions of this legend exist. In one retelling, the Yamabushi threw a rock at Nichiren, which he was able to suspend in the air by the sheer will of his "spiritual power". In another version of the story, a member of a competing Buddhist school invited Nichiren to a contest to see who had the greater religious power to control the levitation of a rock. According to this legend, the man was able to lift the rock but Nichiren prevented him from lowering it. Upon losing the contest, the story goes, the man left his sect and became Nichiren's follower. |
| 8 | Converting the Spirit of a Cormorant Fisherman, Isawa River, Kai (甲斐 石和川鵜飼亡魂 道) | Nichiren appears in his red robes above the river bank bluff healing two fishermen, who fish using trained comorants to make their catch. Their hands are seen in the act of prayer. | In 13th-century Japan, some Buddhist sects discriminated against fishermen, as they were viewed as untouchables since they took life to provide for themselves. Nichiren was the son of a fisherman and was thought to be favorable to them. Baskett argues that this image shows a rarely seen gentle and sympathetic side to Nichiren. Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) is said to have later returned to this image in his own work. |
| 9 | Manifestation of the Seven-faced divinity at Minobuzan, 9th month 1277 (建治三年九月身延山七面神示現) | Nichiren performs an exorcism on a woman in a temple, bringing forth a dragon which frightens the people in assembly. | According to legend, in 1277 Nichiren was at Mount Minobu praying when a beautiful woman appeared and interrupted him. Holding up his Buddhist scriptures, Nichiren compelled her to show her true self, at which point she transformed into a shichimen daimyōjin (seven-faced dragon) and vanished. Before Kuniyoshi created this image from accounts of Nichiren's life, it was previously known from at least two older woodblock representations. These include The Life of the Priest Nichiren from the late Tenna period (1681–1684), and an even larger, later version from the Edo period in the Takamizawa collection Later, Kuniyoshi's student, Utagawa Yoshitora, produced a similar work in the form of a triptych known as The Origin of Shichimen Daimyojin (1870). |
| 10 | Nichiren's Destruction of the Mongol Fleet, 1281 (弘安四年上八利益濛 軍敗北) | Japanese soldiers drive back a Mongol invasion. Mongol ships fire stones from catapults towards the shore, but the ships appear to be sinking due to the storm and power of Nichiren's prayers. | In the summer of 1281, the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China invaded Japan for the second time, seven years after the previous Battle of Bun'ei in 1274. In the battle, a storm aided the Japanese defense, as it helped to sink part of the Mongol fleet. As part of the legend, it is often claimed that Nichiren predicted the Mongol invasion in his book Ankoku Ron. According to Wladimir Zwalf of the British Museum, Nichiren was given credit for the storm, even though he had previously preached that Japan would be destroyed for ignoring him and his teachings about the Lotus Sutra. |

## Collections and exhibitions

The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) acquired the complete set of prints from the Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest series for their collection from a bequest of 1,500 ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Mary A. Ainsworth in 1950. Individual, selected prints from the series have been exhibited in many different exhibitions at the museum (and have traveled abroad elsewhere). Notable exhibitions of selected prints from the series at the Allen Memorial Art Museum occurred in 1962 ("An American University Collection: Works of Art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio"), 1979 ("Japanese Prints from the Ainsworth Collection"), 1989 ("Selections from the Ainsworth Collection"), 1995 ("Images of War: Ritual and Reality"), 2005 ("Visions of Turmoil and Tranquility: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Collection"), in 2009 ("Starry Dome: Astronomy in Art and the Imagination"), in 2015 ("A Life in Prints: Mary A. Ainsworth and the Floating World"), 2016 ("Marking Time: Seasonal Imagery in Japanese Prints"), 2017 ("Lines of Descent: Masters and Students in the Utagawa School"), and in 2023 ("Variables: An Exercise in Close Looking").