Shigisan engi

Shigisan engi
Overview

I.
The Shigisan engi or Legends of the Temple on Mount Shigi
consists of three handscrolls. Scroll 1 is commonly called“The Flying Granary,” Scroll 2 “The Exorcism of the Engi
Emperor,” and Scroll 3 “The Story of the Nun.” These scrolls
are a pictorial presentation of three legends handed down
among the common people.
These legends appear under the title “Shinano no kuni nohijiri no koto” (The Sage of Shinano Province) in both the Uji
shūi monogatari (Tales from Uji) and the Umezawa version of
the Kohon setsuwashū (Collection of Ancient Legends). Since
these two versions of the legends are quite similar, one isassumed to be based on the other. The Kohon setsuwashū version is written largely in kana, the phonetic script, with few
Chinese characters and is very close to the text of the
Shigisan engi handscrolls. Thus, it seems likely that there is a
deep connection between the Shigisan engi and the Kohon
setsuwashū; one was probably the basis for the other.
“The Flying Granary,” Scroll 1 of the Shigisan engi, lacks
the textual portion, which has probably been lost. As thatsuggests, the Shigisan engi have not come down to us in their
original form. The Shigisan Chōgosonshiji Temple owns the
Shigisan engi, and the lid of the box in which the scrolls werestored lists two other documents, the Taishigun no maki
(Army of Prince Shōtoku-taishi) and notes to that scroll, in
addition to the titles of the three scrolls. Neither has survived. It appears that at some point an effort was made to
repair the significantly damaged scrolls; in the process, some
sections were evidently lost or misplaced.
An examination of the Uji shūi monogatari, the Kohon setsuwashū, and the text of the Shigisan engi provides valuable
insights into when these scrolls were created. Kawaguchi
Hisao, who edited the Kohon setsuwashū, argues that theShigisan engi used material from the twelfth century
Shunpishō, a theoretical work on poetry attributed to
Minamoto no Toshiyori (d. 1129), and provided material for
the Mumyō zōshi, attributed to Fujiwara no Toshinari no
Musume, an early Kamakura period poetess (ca. 1171-1251).
Toshiyori compiled an official poetry anthology, theKin’yōshū, in 1127; the Mumyō zōshi is dated to 1202. Thus,
the Shigisan engi is thought to date from the decades in
between those two works. The Uji shūi monogatari arethought to have been complied later. Thus, at about the time
the Kohon setsuwashū was being written, the Shigisan engi
handscrolls were also being created, based on the story
known as “Shinano no kuni no hijiri no koto” (The Sage ofShinano Province).
One theory is that the Shigisan engi was produced between
1157 and 1180. The earliest possible date is set at 1157
because of the depiction of the imperial palace precincts atthe beginning of Scroll 2. An imperial messenger is shown
about to go through the palace gate; in that scene the central
portion of the avenue is shown as higher than the sides. That
raised section, the okimichi, was built after the beginning of82

the Hōgen era (1156-1159), according to the Kikki, a diary
kept by Yoshida Tsunefusa. Since that raised center section
is depicted in the Shigisan engi, the handscrolls must datefrom after 1156.
The latest possible date is set at 1180, when Taira no
Shigehira burned down the Tōdaiji Temple, since Scroll 3 of
the Shigisan engi includes an accurate representation of thetemple as it was before its destruction. It appears to be a realistic depiction and, at the very least, was created by someone
quite familiar with the Tōdaiji Temple before it went up insmoke.
Thus, the Shigisan engi handscrolls appear to have beencreated in the late Heian period, at almost the same time that
the Kohon setsuwashū was compiled.
II.
The content of the scroll is a visual representation of threestories. Scroll 1 begins at the residence of a wealthy village
headman. His house and garden are surrounded by a panelboard fence. Within it, the main structure is clearly divided
into front and rear sections. Since the headman was of highsocial status, his residence lacks an earth floored entrance
area. A storehouse and an oil press stand in the garden.
People are watching in amazement as the granary flies into
the air. The granary flies across the sea, across the mountains, to Mount Shigi. Then bales of rice fly back to the headman’s residence.
Scroll 2 begins with an imperial messenger going out of thepalace gate. Next he meets the holy man Myōren on Mount
Shigi. The messenger returns to the capital and reports tothe emperor, whereupon a Buddhist guardian deity comes
flying through the air. The emperor’s illness is cured, and themessenger once again sets out for Mount Shigi, where hemeets Myōren again.
In Scroll 3, Myōren’s older sister, a Buddhist nun, sets out
from Shinano on horseback, with an attendant. We see her
seeking lodging and relaxing there. Then, in a scene with astone dōsojin (god of roads and borders), she asks an old
man about Myōren. Again she inquires about her younger
brother, this time of a woman spinning thread. She retires inprayer at the Great Buddha Hall in the Tōdaiji Temple.
Finally she goes to find her brother on Mount Shigi, where
they are reunited.
These are the scenes included in the picture scroll. The
present writer believes it to be by the hand of Toba Sōjō, but
this is by no means established. The drawing is extremely
free and easy, yet realistic. If the depictions of Tōdaiji
Temple, the Seiryōden, where the emperor resided within
the imperial palace precincts, or the roadways, were not simply invented, then they appear to have been by the hand of apainter at the edokoro, the official court atelier. Yet, the open,
easy depiction of the lives of the common people suggeststhat these might have been work produced privately by oneof those painters. If we assume that the Chōjū giga was created by Toba Sōjō, and observe that the style in Scroll 3 of the

Chōjū giga is quite similar to that of the Shigisan engi, thenthe attribution of the Shigisan engi handscroll to him is not
implausible. In both scrolls, the shaved heads of priests are
rendered in a flat, simplified style, for example. If the same
person did not produce both, then they must have been bypeople with an extremely close relationship.
The Shigisan engi are particularly valuable for this study
because of their faithful depiction of the lives of the common
people. Scroll 1, for example, includes a detailed depiction of
the residence of the wealthy headman and is an importantsource for learning about domestic architecture. In addition,
we can learn that oil was being pressed at his residence aswell as much about the clothing worn by commoners.
Scroll 2 does more than provide an accurate rendering of
the architecture and other features of the imperial palace. We
are shown deformed children and people suffering from skindiseases and other physiological problems, as well as scenesof rural dwellings. They include a structure with an overlapping shingled roof with an archery target on the wall, an
unusual feature.
Scroll 3, depicting the nun’s journey, gives a detailed viewof travel at that time, as well as gossiping people, doing laundry by treading on it, a woman spinning, urban domestic
architecture, gods of roads and borders, and other aspects ofordinary peoples’ lives. They are depicted in a lively manner,
and, to a surprising extent, connect with aspects of life inJapan today.
These scrolls are thus a valuable resource showing us how
ordinary people lived in the late Heian period.

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1 gate2 gatepost
3 threshold
4 door of the gate
5 plank fence (horizontal planks)
6 talisman
7 beam8 pillar
9 porch
10 short supporting post
11 foundation stone
12 corner beam
13 ornament for hiding nails
14 lower crossbeam
15 pillar (chamfered)
16 wooden floor
17 plank door
18 bamboo screen
19 plank step
20 transom decorated with thin bamboo
21 lintel
22 side shōji
23 wicket gate
(between the front yard and backyard)
24 lintel
25 pillar
26 kitchen
27 nageshi
28 lattice shutter
29 metal shutter hook
30 fire pit
31 fireplace
32 fire side
33 noren
34 table?
35 pillar (chamfered)
36 ornament for hiding nails
37 cooking table
38 wooden container
39 bowl
40 bowl
41 koshi-nageshi
42 earthen wall
43 wainscoting (horizontal)
44 oil press
45 stool
46 oven47 lid of caldron
48 caldron
49 pillar (bamboo)
50 plank wall
51 firewood
52 door of the gate
53 gatepost
54 plank fence (wainscoting)
55 pillar

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64 Chōja’s Mansion
The illustration presented here, from this page to p.87,
shows the whole perspective of the residence of the chōja(rich man). The Kohon setsuwa shū and Uji shūi monogatari
which include this story simply state that the residence was
located in a mountain village or at the foot of a mountain without mentioning a specific place. However in the Shōyo shō, thechōja is referred to as “a man living in Yamazaki,” and it ishighly likely that the artist of this picture scroll had Yamazaki
in his mind as where the chōja resided. This is because there
is an oil press in the backyard. The town of Yamazaki was on
the right bank of the Yodogawa River, near the border of
Yamashiro and Settsu (present day Kyōto and Ōsaka). A
Hachiman shrine was erected in this place a year after theerection of the Usa Hachiman Shrine in Iwashimizu in thefirst year of Jōgan (859). Yamazaki prospered as a river port.
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Ships from the Inland Sea ascended the Yodo River up to
Yamazaki, and the goods were carried from there to Kyōto byland. Consequently, the town naturally came to flourish as acommercial center.
Low-positioned workers of the Yamazaki Hachiman Shrine
were in charge of supplying lamp oil for the Iwashimizu
Hachiman Shrine, and therefore they acquired the privilegeof extracting and selling oil. They vended oil as far as Minoand Owari to the east and Harima, Bizen, or even Higo to thewest. The oil was extracted from perilla, which was mainly
produced in Mino and Ōmi and then brought to Yamazaki forpressing.
Those involved in oil production there all became all very rich.
The chōja’s house depicted here has not only an oil press in the
backyard but also a big pot to steam perilla seeds, and firewood.
There used to be a storehouse for rice between the oil press
and the kitchen, but now it has flown away to Mount Shigi.

Though this is the mansion of a rich man, compared tothose of the aristocrats of nearby Kyōto, it is quite modest.
The fence around the mansion is made of wooden wainscot
and the gate is a simple one. The main building lacks anearthen-floor room. The houses of commoners usually had
earthen-floor rooms but those of the ruling classes, such asaristocrats and warriors, did not. This rich man’s house isdivided into front and back sections. Even the yard is separated into corresponding sections, and one has to go through awicket gate to get from one to the other.
This kind of house can be considered as a typical residenceof a local notable. One should keep in mind that this house is
not that of a warrior. There is no sign of defensive equipmentin this house, and this tells that this family became rich bybusiness. The term chōja seems to refer to this kind of people. The house of Ōtomo no Kujiko in the Kokawadera engi
resembles this.

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1 ridge
2 gable3 thatch (overlapping shingles)
4 rafter
5 descending ridge
6 plank eaves
7 bar holding down the roof
8 nageshi over lintel
9 pillar
10 mairado

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65 Thatched Roof
Thatching roofs dates back to ancient times, and it seems
that in those days most roofs were thatched. At the earlystages, apparently most dwellings were constructed in the socalled gasshō-zukuri style and they lacked walls. From theclay images of houses found in tombs, it is clear that houses
with pillars and walls were built extensively in the Kofun period. The style of the roofs of these clay houses can be categorized as the kirizuma, irimoya, and shichūzukuri styles. In theirimoya style, which we can see in the image on this page,
the roof is constructed as follows: First, the carpenters set up
a row of triangular frames (gasshō) along a beam; then theylaid a ridge on them, setting gasshō at each end against theridge. Next they tied horizontal bars called moya to thegasshō at regular intervals from each other from the beam to
the ridge, and tied a large number of rafters to the moya parallel to the gasshō; bamboo called shimatori was then laid on
the rafters parallel to the moya but closer to each other; finally this frame was thatched with reeds starting from the bottom of the frame. In ancient times it was customary to thatch
the ridge and bind it with ropes. However this image shows amore technologically advanced method: the ridge is covered
with big roof tiles to prevent it from rotting. The roof over the
open porch is shingled with overlapping shingles; therefore
this part of the roof could have been constructed as a lean-toaround the beams of the main building. This way of roofing is
still widely seen in the Yamato region and the level of construction techniques observed in this image does not differ
much from that of today.

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66 Open Fireplace
In the kitchen of the mansion of the chōja, there is an open
hearth. And in the middle of this fireplace, there is a roundfire pit. Not firewood but charcoal is used in the fire pit. This
type of fireplace seems to have developed early aroundKyōto. A trammel is not used here. Instead, gotoku (tripod)
were used in the area around Kyōto, which can be also seenfrom other picture scrolls.

Shigisan engi

1 surprised woman
2 wearing one’s hair down
3 cord for tying the hair
4 kosode
5 apron6 skirt of kosode
7 woman sitting in the main seat
8 uchigi
9 metal shutter hook
10 lattice shutter
11 pillar (chamfered)

12 lower crossbeam
13 porch
14 plank fence
15 ornament for hiding nails
16 cupboard
17 ?
18 melon
19 mat20 frame of fireplace
21 fire pit
22 toothblack

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1 wearing one’s hair down
2 uchigi
3 eboshi
4 kariginu
5 beard
6 metal shutter hook
7 lattice shutter
8 pillar (chamfered)
9 mat
10 sword
11 pillow
12 cupboard
13 wooden container (square)
14 dish15 bowl
16 porch
17 plank fence
18 plank fence post

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67 KitchenThis is the same kitchen of the chōja depicted in picture 66.
Through the lattice shutters propped up with hooks, one cansee the cupboard inside. On the cupboard is a box with fruit.
The fruit seem to be pears. Apart from them, some lacquered
bowls and unglazed ceramic dishes are on the shelves. The
room behind the kitchen seems to be a bedroom; the bedroom of this mansion is not closed in. One can see a pillow
set on its end and what seems to be a sword lying on thefloor. The layers of something at the corner of the room
seem to be a pile of mats. It seems that the life of the mistress of the house was centered on this room. In picture 66, awoman who seems to be the mistress of the house occupies
the best seat by the hearth, which is called yokoza (main seat)
today. In picture 67 one cannot see the fireplace, but at theguest seat by the fireplace (at the right of the picture), a
woman in white robes, who has shaved off her brows andstained her teeth with toothblack, is sitting. This lady mustbe either a guest or a serving woman. The woman who isrushing into the house in surprise wears uchigi, which seems
to indicate her position as the mistress of the house. In thisillustration, the slight differences between the attire of the
mistress of the house and servants are clearly depicted.

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1 apron2 wide-sleeved kimono
3 wooden tray
4 wooden container
5 pot
6 argha shelf
7 roof
8 thickly shingled roof edge
9 rafter
10 nageshi
11 porch
12 mairado
13 lower crossbeam
14 ornament for hiding nails
15 sunoko
16 pillar
17 balustrade
18 short supporting post

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68 Argha Shelf
Argha (Japanese transcription “aka”) means water in
Sanskrit. The custom of building an argha shelf in a corner ofthe porch probably developed after the establishment of theshinden-zukuri style. From the chapter “Suzumushi” of theTale of Genji: “In the autumn, Genji made the eastern cornerof the yard by the central wall in front of the western corridor
into a wild garden. In the palace, he also set up an argha shelfand set the interior in such a way (that he could concentrateon praying to the Buddha).” From the Hōjōki: “This house isvery different. It is only one jō square in size, and its height isonly about seven shaku ... A temporary sun-shade stretchesout to the south and there is bamboo flooring. To its west anargha shelf stands, and above it a holy image of Amida hangs
along the western fence; when the sun sets I take the light as
the holy ray emanating from the forehead of the Buddha.”
These texts show that argha shelves were made in places like
open porches, and this is the case with the illustration on thispage, too. A pot sits on the shelf and flowers are arranged init. The small wooden container next to it is probably a watertub. Hence this is an argha shelf. The unglazed ceramic dishes on a wooden tray that a nun holds may be an offering to
the Buddha. Yet trays and unglazed dishes of this sort wereusually used for offerings to the gods, so this may be for ashrine built in the precincts of a Buddhist temple.

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1 nun
2 zukin3 uwaginu
4 hakama
5 leggings (kyahan)
6 socks
7 tai
8 Buddhist priest
9 priestly robes
10 Buddhist rosary
11 wooden floor
12 pillar (chamfered)
13 balustrade
14 porch
15 short supporting post
16 foundation beam under supporting post
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69 Tai
The text of the scroll states that “they used thick twine to
make the thing called tai unusually thick and strong.” Tai (arough textile) was also called tae or tafu. It basically means
hemp. What is called tai today is woven from kōzo fiber,
which is obtained by peeling the stem, soaking it in water,and shredding.

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1 gate2 plank roof
3 bar holding down the roof
4 “frog-leg” support
5 gable ornament
6 beam7 bolster
8 door
9 metal gate brace
10 gatepost
11 foundation supporting gatepost
12 wickerwork fence
13 pillar supporting fence
14 sidebar supporting fence
15 forked pole
16 well curb (stone semi-circle)
17 well bucket
18 rope for a well bucket
19 woman washing cloth
20 wearing one’s hair down
21 baring chest
22 kosode23 holding up one’s skirt
24 washing by stamping on the clothes
25 pouring water from ladle
26 washing place (rock in the shape of half-split bamboo)
27 wooden container
28 woman drawing water from a well
29 apron
30 well curb
31 well wall

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70 Gate, Well, Washing
The gate in this illustration has a plank roof, and over the
beam is a beautiful “frog-leg” support (kaeru-mata) made ofa plank of wood. Sticking a pole into the metal gate brace
would securely lock the door of the gate. The fence is a wickerwork fence, which seems to have been made of shino bamboo. The top of the fence appears to have been left unwoven
and bent downward, though this is not very clear. The wellby the fence seems to be an artesian well, and water flows out
from it. The round tub on the well is a well bucket. This isprobably a private well for it stands within the mansion. In
contrast to this, the well in the other illustration is a public
well dug alongside the road. The square walls of the well are
made of planks. A woman is washing clothes by the well. She
has placed the clothes on a rock shaped like a bamboo splitin half and is pouring water and stamping on them. This rockpresumably was not something originally made for washing,
but was converted from some other use. The woman pours
water from a ladle and uses her feet to press out the dirt fromthe clothes together with the water.

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1 partition screen
2 legs of partition screen
3 wooden floor
4 pillar (chamfered)
5 bolster
6 framework
7 balustrade

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71 Partition Screen
The word tsuitate-shōji, which literally means a flat partition
screen, is explained as a “popular name for byōbu” in the
Wakun no shiori. Together with another reference from the
Makura no sōshi (Pillow Book) “what is nice at someone’s
house is tsuitate-shōji”, we can see that this item began to be
used quite early. There is an episode in the Kokon chomonjū
about the drawings on a partition screen. “When Lord
Ononomiya wanted to have pines painted on his partition
screen, he summoned Tsunenori, but the latter was away. So
the lord called Kinmochi and had him do the painting. Laterthe lord summoned Tsunenori and showed him the painted
partition screen. Tsunenori commented that ‘the top looks
like a hairy yam. The rest is fine.’” This episode shows thatpartition screens were usually painted, but the one in thisimage has calligraphy instead.
In the Kagakushū or Setsuyōshū, tsuitate is pronounced tsuitachi. In the dialect of Hizen Province (Saga and Nagasaki
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Prefectures), it was pronounced tsukitate, in that of Bungo
Province (Ōita Prefecture), sarau. It is written in theMasasuke shōzokushō that “when one prepares the interior ofa porch of a main building, one may use partition screens inplace of byōbu screens. Use ones with a silk surface and brocade rims.” From this description, flat partition screens weresometimes used as an alternative to folding screens (byōbu),
and they were also covered with silk. These partition screensstood on legs and were therefore stable, and they did notneed to be opened in a zigzag fashion like folding screensand could be used almost anywhere. Yet they were not very
high, to be easily transportable. Early on, they seem to havebeen used only among aristocrats, but commoners came touse them next to the kitchen hearth to prevent the fire frombeing fanned by the wind. In houses where there was not any
sliding door between the kitchen and the earthen-floor room,such screens were used as a partition between them. Screensof this sort used in farmhouses were mainly made of cedar
plank.

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72 Hand Spindle
The picture on this page shows the scene in which the nunof Shinano listens for news of her brother Myōren, while sitting at the entrance to a house along the street. The house isin the machiya-zukuri style and is a katagawa-sumai; thismeans that one side of the house is floored and the other side
is a doma, a room with an earthen floor. A noren hangs at theentrance. The woman sitting on the earthen floor is spinning
thread, and the object under her right hand is a hand spindle.
The spindle is placed on a square stand, visible under the
woman’s knee, and a spinning handle (teshirogi) is used tomake it revolve rapidly. By pulling the thread as the spindle
revolves, the thread becomes twisted, and by winding thetwined thread on the spindle, one makes the twist stronger. A
spindle wheel is attached a little below the center of the spindle to make it spin better. The spindle wheel is made ofwood, stone, or ceramic. Hemp fibers are long and easily
twined by this kind of hand spindle. The hemp growers of theTōhoku region or people who need strongly twisted threads
still use these spindles today. This spinning method was used
before the invention of the large size spinning wheel (itoguruma).
Shigisan engi

1 nun
2 zukin3 stick
4 uchigi
5 straw sandals (waraji)
6 Buddhist rosary
7 woman spinning
8 wearing one’s hair down
9 kosode
10 tub of hemp (wooden container)
11 spindle stand12 hand spindle
13 bearer
14 sedge hat
15 eboshi
16 straw rain-cape
17 yonobakama (patterned)
18 leggings (kyahan)

19 short bob
20 plank roof
21 bar holding down the roof
22 rafter
23 lattice shutter
24 pole for opening window
25 mairado
26 pillar
27 earthen wall
28 doma
29 foundation
30 nageshi
31 noren
32 bench
33 cat34 spinning handle (teshirogi)
35 hemp thread95

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1 woman picking gourds
2 wearing one’s hair down
3 toothblack
4 kosode
5 tucking up one's sleeves with a cord
6 apron7 basket
8 gourd
9 oil press
10 stool
11 bamboo pillar
12 caldron
13 lid of caldron
14 stove
15 bale of rice
16 firewood
17 plank fence
18 plank fence post

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73 Stove, Oil Press
In this picture depicting the backyard of the Yamazakichōja’s mansion, there is a big stove on which a caldron
stands. This caldron is apparently for roasting perilla seeds.
There was a shrine called Rikyū Hachiman in Yamazaki, andthe jinin serving this shrine, who originally pressed oil forthe offertory lamps, later started to peddle the oil they produced in various other areas. The fame of the oil-jinin of ŌYamazaki was widespread in western Japan in the medieval
period. The oil was pressed from the seeds of perilla, a great
quantity of which was grown in the area between Ōmi and
Mino. When the oil production of Ō-Yamazaki began flourishing, people from these areas started to bring in the perilla¯
seeds they had grown to Ō-Yamazaki
on a large scale. To
press oil, people first crushed the perilla seeds and then96

roasted them in a caldron or steamed them in a steamer. In
this picture they seem to be roasted. When the oil starts toooze out from the seeds, they are put in an oil press. The
wooden frame at the lower right corner of the image is the oilpress. The upper bar of the horizontal can be removed and apocket has been carved in the middle of the lower one. Thoseoperating the oil press put a sack of roasted perilla seeds into
this pocket, set the upper bar in place, and hammered awedge into the gap above the upper bar from the outer sideof the two vertical bars to squeeze the sack. The oil thatoozes out drips down from the hole in the bottom of thepocket in the lower bar.

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74 Toothblack
The custom of staining one’s teeth black goes back toancient times in Japan. In this picture, too, the teeth of thewomen are black. Today this stain is called ohaguro—literally
tooth-black—and the custom of staining teeth is understoodto have been the mark of an adult female. Yet in the Jōrō na
no koto, it is mentioned that girls start to stain their teeth
from the age of nine, which can be regarded as evidence ofstaining teeth before growing up. In the Edo period, childrenof the upper class seem to have started staining their teeth
from the age of thirteen. In the entries of the Diary ofEmperor Gomizunoo and Hinami kiji, princesses are describedas having the ceremony of staining their teeth at thirteen.
According to these sources, the sons of the regent families(sekkan) also stained their teeth. Toothblack was a form of
make-up. In the Makura no sōshi (Pillow Book) well-stained
teeth are listed among “pleasant things.” The Eiga monogatari states “fifty or sixty young pleasant-looking females,
dressed in very white clothing called mo-koromo and wearing
white head-wear and with their teeth stained black and bright
red rouge appeared in a row.” The women in this picture
open their mouth wide, showing their dark teeth, and give a
strange impression to modern readers. The sink is behind
the window of the house, and there is a built-in argha shelf.

Shigisan engi

1 wearing one’s hair down
2 toothblack
3 uchigi
4 kinu5 kosode
6 apron
7 obi
8 washing a bowl
9 bowl10 wooden container
11 sink
12 wainscoting (horizontal)
13 pillar (chamfered)
14 ornament for hiding nails
15 koshi-nageshi
16 earthen wall
17 lattice shutter
18 metal shutter hook
19 noren
20 porch
21 short supporting post
22 stone step
23 foundation stone

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1 people going to prayers
2 wearing one’s hair down (without eboshi)
3 wearing one’s hair down (tucked under hitatare)
4 hakuchō (white kariginu)
5 hakama
6 shoe7 child servant
8 keshizori
9 routing hair sticking out from the slit of hitatare
10 hitatare
11 portable urinal
12 straw sandals (zōri)
13 bridge
14 main post
15 ornamented pillar top
16 railings
17 short supporting post
18 bridge plank98

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75 Child Servant, Portable Urinal
Three people crossing the bridge are servants of a Tendaisect priest, who is going to pay a visit to the imperial palace.
One of them appears to be a woman. The small one following
them from behind is a servant in children’s attire. He may be
a Yase-dōji, literally “Yase children,” servants from Yase (nearMount Hiei) who wore children’s clothing. His strange
appearance may suggest that strange-looking people were
thought to have magical power and therefore valued as servants. His hair is done in the keshizori style, a children’s hairstyle in which most of the head is shaven, leaving a tuft at thetop, and his ears are enormous. The thing hanging from his
waist is probably a shitozutsu, is a portable urinal. When people were at the imperial palace or such, they were not allowed
to leave their seat even when they had to urinate. In such circumstances, their servant would bring them a portable urinalfor their convenience. These urinals were mainly made ofbamboo. The ceramic ones were called shibin (urine pot). In
the Edo period, daimyō used such objects as well.

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76 Blowing the Nose with One’s Hand
The storehouse of the Yamazaki chōja flies away on a bowl
and so the chōja chases it on a horse. This picture depicts theservants following the chōja. Except for a priest they are
wearing hitatare, and the man to the right wears sashinuki.
The man to his rear does not wear an eboshi, but has a clothwrapped around his head instead. This is probably a bokutō.
The man to the right is blowing his nose with his hand.
Similar pictures of blowing one’s nose appear in various picture scrolls. The houses were very open, and drafts musthave been severe; catching cold and nasal catarrh must havebeen very common. And when paper was precious, people
must have blown their nose in this manner. This scene wasone of the most common sights. However, aristocrats at formal occasions were not allowed to blow their nose like this.
In such cases, paper was used. In the Hōnen shōnin eden,
there are many scenes in which people are using paper towipe their nose. Blowing one’s nose while pinching it is stillseen in rural villages today.
Shigisan engi

1 eboshi
2 fan
3 shaved head4 round fan
5 bokutō
6 jacket
7 sashinuki
8 barefoot
9 blowing the nose with one’s hand

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1 woman carrying a naked baby on her back2 kosode
3 wearing one’s hair down
4 gatepost (plank top cover)5 plank fence (wainscoting)
6 wickerwork door of the gate
7 vertical frame of the door
8 lattice
9 wickerwork
10 latch
11 millet
12 gourd
13 trellis

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77 Vegetable GardenThis is a picture of the vegetable garden by the back gate of
the mansion of the Yamazaki chōja. There were vegetablegardens both inside and outside the mansion precincts. In
this vegetable garden ripe ears of millet are drooping andgourds are hanging from the trellis. The door of the backgate is wickerwork and not very strong while the fence ismade of wainscot. These aspects clearly show the non-military character of the mansion of the chōja. The woman at theback gate carries a naked baby on her back, inside her
kosode, her skin directly touching that of the baby. In thesources of this period, there are a number of examples of carrying a naked baby inside one’s garment, either at one’s backor front.

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78 Picking Greens
The field in this picture was located in an open space
between two houses facing the street. The fence in the front
runs along the street and sets off the field inside. Peach trees
planted by the fence are just blooming. This field must havebeen developed from extra land in the estate and was a typeof private property called “within the fence” (kaito). These
pieces of land were mainly used as vegetable gardens. In thispicture, a woman is picking greens grown here. This showsthat vegetables were self-supplied by home gardening. It
seems that the maintenance of vegetable gardens within thefence was the work of women. Almost everybody working inthese gardens are female.
Shigisan engi

1 woman picking greens
2 wearing one’s hair down
3 sitting with knees up
4 kosode
5 wooden container (round)
6 path through fields
7 greens
8 peach9 fence

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1 drying rice plants on tree
2 plank roof
3 bar holding down the roof
4 gable board
5 vertical support
6 beam7 pillar embedded in the ground8 window (bamboo lath)
9 earthen wall
10 fence
11 pine tree

79 Drying Rice Plants
On a pine tree by a farmhouse along a road, rice plants are
seemingly spread to dry. The custom of drying the harvested
sheaves of grain on trees probably dates from ancient times
and is still found in remote corners of the country. A more
widely practiced custom is to make a frame from trees or
posts and use this to dry rice plants. These frames are calledhasa or haze in the Hokuriku area, date in the Kinai area, andinaki in the western Chūgoku area. The word inaki appears
in an order issued by the Council of State in the eighth yearof Jōwa (841): “In Uda County, Province of Yamato, people
set up poles in the rice field and dry the plants of seed rice onthem. Then the rice grain dries very well, as if it had been
toasted. People call this structure ‘inaki’. In all provinces, pro102

mote the interests of the people by using such devices. Do
not neglect such items.” The Seijiyōryaku states “a reportfrom the Province of Yamashiro in the ninth month of thethird year of Engi (903) claims that people just pile rice plants
up behind their gates and drag rice plants around. It is best
to dry the plants on an inaki but we cannot stop their traditional ways.” However, in later days, the custom of drying theplants by hanging them up seems to have gradually spread.
Using living trees must have been a simplified way of using
poles. The walls of the house next to the tree are made ofplastered lath. Square holes left unplastered serve as windows. This method of plastering walls has aspects in common with the method used today, though the pillars thenwere embedded in the ground. The basic techniques of construction did not differ much from those of today.

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80 Azekura Structure, Bales of Rice
The azekura structure is a way of constructing walls by piling logs alternatively in a square. The house in this image
resembles the Shōsōin imperial storehouse at the Tōdaiji
Temple in the way the walls are constructed, though, unlike
the Shōsōin, there are no pillars supporting a raised floor. It
is questionable whether this kind of storehouse with a floor
built directly on the ground was already widespread in thisperiod. The door lock is similar to what we still see today.
The straw rice bags in the lower picture were originally in thestorehouse. These bales of rice do not have round straw lids
at the ends. A similar way of making straw rice bags can beseen in the Inland Sea area today.
Shigisan engi

1 tile ridge
2 descending tile ridge
3 flat tile
4 round tile
5 gargoyle
6 base plank under roof
7 hip rafter
8 rafter
9 lintel
10 vertical frame
11 door12 ?
13 lock
14 foundation
15 bale of rice (without straw lids)
16 rope horizontally
17 rope vertically

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1 bearer
2 straw rain-cape
3 sedge hat
4 uwaginu (pattern of staghorn seaweed)
5 hakama (striped pattern)
6 straw sandals (waraji)
7 stakes to prevent slippage

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81 Kiso Road
Traditionally, there were two ways to go from Kyōto to eastern Japan. One was the Tōsandō Highway and the other theTōkaidō Highway. The Kiso road (Kisoji), which ran from
Mino (Gifu Prefecture) to Matsumotodaira through the valleys of the Kiso River and the Torii Pass, was a part of theTōsandō Highway. The valleys were deep, the mountainpaths were difficult, and plank roads were constructed at various sections. In spite of these difficulties, the Kiso road was avery important route in ancient times. For example, the horses sent to the imperial palace from pastures in eastern Japan
climbed down these valleys to the Mino plain and headed
through Ōmi (Shiga Prefecture) to their final destination in
Kyōto. Therefore, though difficult, this road was well traveled. It must have been a challenge to keep it maintained. To
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prevent the edge of the narrow paths from collapsing, log
posts were hammered in at the edges, more logs were laid on
the posts, and then they were covered with soil, as seen inthis picture.
While there should have been an ample supply of stone
from nearby areas, people did not use stones to build walls;
probably there were not sufficient tools for buildingstonewalls. By contrast, logs and planks were easily available.
At the Yayoi period archeological site of Toro in Shizuoka
Prefecture, log posts were used to construct footpaths
between rice fields. Using log posts to retain the soil at riverbanks and roads was a common practice in later times aswell. The man walking on the road, wearing a sedge hat andstraw rain-cape is a porter and carries a bale of rice on his
back. On such paths deep in the mountains, the transportation of goods depended mainly on human labor.

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82 Travel
This depicts the scene in which the nun continues her journey from Shinano to Yamato, looking for her brotherMyōren. The man holding the lead of the horse is a servant.
In a different scene, two servants are with the nun. All ofthem wear sedge hats and carry bales of rice on their back,covered with a straw rain-cape. Presumably they are carrying
bales of rice because people had to bring their own food supply while traveling. The nun wears ichimegasa and rides on ahorse. A silk veil hang from the ichimegasa, protecting her
face from insects. She wears gloves, which appear to bemade of leather and have some patterns on the back of thehands, and fur long boots. Her attire can be regarded as very
common attire for women unused to long journeys. Except
for priests, yamabushi, and jinin, who would go from door todoor to receive alms, travelers needed porters to carry theirfood supply. The difficulty of individual travelers can be imagined. Leather gloves were sometimes used for long journeys
on horseback. The horse in this image has a martingale andcrupper, which indicates its function as a riding horse. It may
seem that the nun is portrayed too big compared to thehorse, but traditional Japanese horses were small, and this
proportion reflects the reality of the day.

Shigisan engi

1 nun
2 ichimegasa
3 veil4 kosode (plain white)
5 footwear
6 gloves
7 stirrup
8 bit
9 reins
10 martingale
11 crupper
12 bearer
13 sedge hat
14 straw rain-cape
15 bale of rice
16 kosode17 hakama
18 stick

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1 zukin2 uchigi
3 footwear for riding horses
4 bale of rice
5 straw rain-cape
6 shoulder strap
7 sedge hat
8 wooden container for brazier
9 chopsticks for brazier
10 pillar (chamfered)
11 lower crossbeam
12 porch
13 corner beam
14 short supporting post
15 brazier

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83 Lodgings
In ancient days, the main highways were constructed andmaintained by the government as official roads. The government also constructed post stations at appropriate places on
the highways, stationing horses for official usage. An articleof the Enryaku kōtaishiki, originally issued on the second dayof the ninth month, the nineteenth year of Enryaku (800),
states that although many post stations are deteriorating,
local governments neglect to repair them and that as thiswould damage the national dignity should foreign embassies
come to visit, provincial governors must always maintainthem. The national government issued another order in the
fourth year of Kōnin (813) for the repair of post stations. And
similar orders were issued repeatedly afterwards, whichclearly shows the difficulty of maintaining these post stations.
Taking care of the post horses was not the only function of
the post stations. When the system was first established, individual travelers could use these post stations if their positionin the court ranking system was higher than the fifth rank. If
there was no village nearby, eligibility to use the station was
expanded to the lowest rank (Ryōnogige). Yet the frequent
use of these stations by private travelers accelerated the damage to them, and finally all travelers for any purpose, bothofficial and private, were banned from spending the night at
the stations, with strict penal regulations for the station managers (Engishiki). This resulted in travelers being forced tofind lodgings somewhere else. One place they could use
were facilities like fuseya, a hospice owned by temples andprovincial governments. These hospices were originally built
and operated as charitable facilities for poor peasants, but inlater days, they also functioned as lodgings. Buddhist
temples were also used as lodgings, which is the case in thispicture.

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84 Hospitality
The building depicted in this picture seems to be the houseof the caretaker of the Buddhist temple, where the nun from
Shinano has asked for lodging. Temples were built just forthe purpose of enshrining statues of Buddhas and were notequipped with kitchen facilities. Thus the people in the scene
must be carrying various items from the house of the caretaker. The man at the left seems to cup his hand around theflame of a lamp. The girl following him seems to hold a brazier. An old man is sitting on the veranda and the old woman
sitting in the room is piling some fruit, seemingly plums, in abowl. These are treats for the guest. This scene continues
from the previous picture (picture 83): the residence is big
enough to have its own Buddhist temple within the complex,
and the old couple are not dressed well enough to be incharge of the residence. They must therefore be servants of
the residence or the caretaker of the temple. In this scene,
they are entertaining a stranger with great hospitality. People
offering lodging were, needless to say, not full-time innkeepers and just responded to the travelers request for a place tostay. This shows that people were not very much on theirguard against strangers. Not only that, they are entertaining
them as well as they can. Such hospitality encouraged thedevelopment of travel for personal purposes apart from official duties and pilgrimage, in spite of the many obstacles
involved. Incidentally, this house has sliding doors, whichindicates that sills had already appeared by this time. The
invention of sliding doors is an important factor in the historical process of the development of commoners’ houses inJapan.
Shigisan engi

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1 man carrying a light
2 ori-eboshi
3 kosode (plain)
4 yonobakama (patterned)
5 barefoot
6 girl carrying box
7 wearing one’s hair down
8 cord for tying the hair
9 box (square)
10 brazier
11 kosode12 apron
13 straw sandals (zōri)
14 kosode15 yonobakama
16 bowl
17 fruit
18 plank roof
19 rafter
20 nageshi over lintel
21 pillar
22 mairado
23 porch
24 lower crossbeam

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1 bearer
2 ayaigasa
3 straw rain-cape4 bale of rice
5 kosode(pattern of staghorn seaweed)
6 hakama (striped pattern)
7 leggings (kyahan)
8 straw sandals (waraji)
9 stick
10 nun (with bent back)
11 ichimegasa
12 zukin
13 veil
14 kosode15 hakama
16 leggings (kyahan)
17 gloves (patterned)
18 stick19 old man (big nose)
20 nae-eboshi
21 beard
22 round fan
23 walking stick (two-pronged)

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24 kosode25 obi (white)
26 hakama
27 straw sandals (zōri)
28 woman holdng a baby
29 baby sucking at the breast
30 apron
31 kosode32 old woman (white hair)
33 ashida
34 child
35 bowl
36 kosode
37 loincloth
38 town people’s house
39 plank roof
40 bar holding down the roof
41 door
42 pillar
43 plank wall (vertical)
44 entrance
45 threshold
46 horizontal beam
47 chopsticks

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85 Old People
In this scene, the nun is asking villagers for information
about her brother. Both the nun and the old man answering
her question are bent low with age. The nun’s servant is bowlegged. Work which they had to do in a bent position, thecustom of working while sitting on the floor, and hard laborsuch as carrying heavy loads must have been the cause of
these physical changes. Aged people used walking sticks. A
type of walking stick frequently observed within picture
scrolls is the type used by the old man in this scene: a Tshaped handle is attached to the stick, which has a forked
bottom. These sticks were called kasezue (antler shaped
walking sticks) or shumokuzue (bell-hammer walking sticks).
It is recorded that a forked end was very helpful for old people (Hikobae), which indicates that there were many doddering aged people. There do not seem to be any rules regarding clothing for aged people. The baby being breastfed is
naked, and the mother is holding her baby inside her robe sothat their skin touches directly. The older child standing in
the doma holds a bowl in his hand and wears a loincloth.

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1 servant2 ori-eboshi
3 suikan
4 scratching an arm
5 scratching one’s neck
6 squatting

86 Skin Disease
Two servants waiting for their master are squatting by an
oxcart and scratching their neck or arm. It seems that theycannot stand the itchiness caused by skin diseases. The low
standard of hygiene apparently caused many diseases, including skin diseases such as scabies. The disease troubling theservants in this image seems to be scabies. Aside from this,bites from fleas and lice seem to have been common. A reference to crab lice exists in the Yamai zōshi. It was thought thatthey were transmitted from females to males through sexualintercourse, but in ancient days remedies to remove such

7 ox
8 rope attached to the nose of an ox
9 wheel of oxcart
10 long-handled umbrella
11 covering for long-handled umbrellaparasites did not exist. A skin disease called kusa or kasa wasoften seen as well. Today, kasa refers to syphilis and theword kasabuta (kasa-lid) refers to the scab formed by the
suppuration and congealing of pus. This kasa is the synonymof kusa. kusa was thought to be caused by touching grass(kusa). The word kutabireru, which is transcribed by the
Chinese characters for “grass” and lie down, means to get
tired, and the use of these Chinese characters seems to berelated to touching grass. In the dialect of the mountain village of Mera, Miyazaki Prefecture, kusabureru meant to haveskin diseases, and the villagers believed that coming in contact with bad grasses caused such diseases.

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1 priest on tiptoe
2 red nose
3 priestly robes
4 Buddhist rosary
5 pillar (chamfered)
6 framework
7 stemmed dish8 cooked rice
9 chopsticks
10 bowl
11 sake holder
12 fur rug
13 ornament for hiding nails
14 porch
15 laundry pole
16 forked pole
17 plank step
18 straw sandals (zōri)

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87 Priest with a Red Nose
A disease that makes one’s nose red existed from ancient
times. In the Wamyō ruijūshō, the word “yellow nose” appears
and in the Ishinbō, there is a similar reference to “red nose.”
The priest appearing in this scene also has a big red nose,and since figures with a red nose appear in other scenes of
the Shigisan engi, this symptom seems to have been very
common in those days. In the Yamai zōshi, a condition called“black nose” appears. Though both the father and his children are described as having black noses, this was not some110

thing hereditary but acquired. Incidentally, there is akatakuchi, a sake container lipped on one side and a takatsuki,
on which rice is served in a high mounded style. Chopsticks
are stuck in it. These must be the preparation for ōban, whichappears in many documents as a special meal served toguests. Beyond the takatsuki, or stemed dish, apparently lies
a rug made of bear or wild boar fur. The pillars of this building have their corners chamfered. Chamfered pillars werecommon in the Japanese-style buildings of the Heian period,
and were a transitional stage from round pillars to square pillars.

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1 small shrine
2 round stone (sai no kami)
3 votive stick
4 willow tree

88 Dōsojin (Sai no Kami)
In this picture, a round stone sits on a rock under a willow
tree, and heigushi, votive pendants, surround the stone. On
the other side of the tree stands a small shrine in the nagarezukuri style with a raised floor. The tree next to the shrine on
the right appears to be enoki. In the original picture, this spot
is a sort of crossing, with a street running just to the left; ahouse in the nagaya-zukuri style is built facing the street. The
nun and an aged man are talking on the street and about five
more people including a servant, women, and children standaround. In the Yamato region, there was an ancient custom ofenshrining sai no kami at such crossings. Most sai no kami
were originally represented by round stones as is the case inthis picture. Most commonly they were brought from riverbanks. In eastern Japan, enshrining round stones as the saino kami is widely observed in Yamanashi Prefecture, and inwestern Japan, in Yamato, Kawachi, and Izumi provinces. In
Shikoku, round stones are enshrined as the body of the godof the rice field. Therefore, given its position and the way it isdepicted, the round stone appearing in this picture is likely asai no kami. The small shrine is also probably a shrine forchimata no kami, the god of the crossroad, but its particularcharacter is not clear. Yet, in the Yamato basin, a custom ofenshrining nogami under an enoki tree has existed to today.

Some shrines are made of wood while some others are madeof tiles. Nogami is a god protecting fields (no) and mainly isan agricultural god. Hence the little shrine in the image
appears to be for a sort of nogami. In this way, we find thatenshrining such gods at crossings is a living custom, which
has not changed much from the time the Shigisan engi waspainted. Today, people customarily string a shimenawa
sacred rope called kanjōnawa on a branch of the tree by such
shrines. This practice also seems to have existed by the timeof the Shigisan engi, for it appears in other contemporary picture scrolls. Today, the round stones have mostly been
removed from crossroads and placed in the shrine precincts.

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1 ori-eboshi
2 suikan
3 woman in ichimegasa
4 holding up one’s ichimegasa
5 red nose
6 round fan
7 carrying box on one’s head
8 carrying box on one’s shoulder

89 Rumor
The people depicted here have gathered on the street tosee the envoy sent by Emperor Engi (Daigo) leaving Kyōtofor Mount Shigi. It is a universal phenomena of all times thatpeople gather when some noticeable event occurs and thatthey talk about it to each other. Several illustrations of such
scenes appear in this picture scroll. A woman is holding her
ichimegasa up to see the envoy. The red nose and the otherold man are probably talking about the miraculous flight ofthe chōja’s storehouse, the virtue of the hijiri of Mount Shigi,
the illness of Emperor Engi, and such. In this way, information about what people have seen on the street spreads topeople who have not seen it, with the addition of original
interpretations and other rumors. In old days rumors were
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mainly based on what people heard and saw on the street oron their travels and they spread widely in this very way.
Judging from their appearance, such spectators were rarely
from the upper classes and were rather mostly commoners,
especially women, aged people, and children. Therefore,
women, aged people, and children who did not have any particular purpose commonly strolled around looking for someone to talk to, and this habit apparently served as a major
channel for news in ages where literacy was exclusive to theupper classes. However, such information acquired throughrumors was obviously not the truth. Through the addition of
the interpretations of those who retold and who heard it, thestory evolved into a standard form. Such stories were one of
the sources of the setsuwa (anecdotal stories) literature ofancient and medieval times. The two others are also spectators.

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90 NusaThis is an illustration of the plank fence by the main gate of
the Yamazaki chōja’s mansion. The fence is wainscoted.
Many nusa hanging from a pole set over the fence must havethe same significance as a sacred rope. In the Ippen hijirie,
there are several examples of hanging nusa or talismans fromsacred rope strung on gateposts set on both sides of theentrance of ordinary residences. This must have been as atalisman against bad fortune. The man squatting in the yard
in the gate must be a sort of lower-class servant. He wears anarrow-sleeved kimono with sashinuki, short sword, andstraw sandals (waraji). Lower-class servants, retainers, andlaborers dressed in such a way, and therefore this style musthave been the ordinary clothing of commoners.
Shigisan engi

1 eboshi
2 narrow-sleeved kimono
3 sword
4 sashinuki
5 straw sandals (waraji)
6 squatting
7 talisman
8 door9 plank fence (wainscoting)
10 pillar

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1 woman picking greens
2 wearing one’s hair down
3 wooden container
4 woman carrying a baby on her back5 roof (overlapping shingles)
6 target (painted on the gable)
7 bar holding down the roof
8 fence of vegetable garden

91 House with a Painted Target
The picture on this page illustrates the countryside of the
Yamato region. The house with overlapping shingles has atarget painted on its gable. Similar examples of a house witha painted target appear in the Kokawadera engi, and the Ippen
hijirie, and therefore this custom must have been prevalent
in many parts of the country. The criterion for deciding on
which house these targets were painted is not clear. Yet thetradition of painting a target on the wall above the entrance ofthe house responsible that year for overseeing the festival of
the local community still remains here and there in various
villages from Yamato to the eastern part of the Inland Sea.
The target functions as the symbol of the one responsible forthe festival (tōya). This target seems to have had the functionof a talisman as well. In many places of the Kinki region, ritual archery takes place in the precinct of the local shrine during the celebration of the New Year. In some cases, the char114

acter representing oni is written on the back of the target.
Through this rite, people pray that misfortune will not cometo the village during the whole year. Since not all of the houses in this image have a target painted on the gable, it appears
that the house with the target belongs to the tōya. And
because this house is not especially bigger than the others,
the duty was presumably assumed in turn by houses of similar size. Therefore it is possible to assume a social structure
similar to that of rural villages today. The roofs are all shingled with planks and the house at the back has poles holding
down the roof. Roofs at the time had two different styles. One
was a roof gabled and shingled with overlapping planks, andthe other was a flat roof. Even in the same region, there were
diverse forms of roof. Only the roof with the target on thegable is close to today’s yamatomune style. The nearer area isa fenced field where women are picking greens; one of themhas a baby on her back.

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92 Horse
Horses were used for riding and conveyance till the Edo
period. The horses for the use of the imperial court and thearistocracy were mainly provided from the pastures the government owned in various provinces. The harnesses of riding
horses were generally beautifully decorated. In ancient times,
saddles were framed with wood and covered with metal(fukurin saddles); there were two layers of saddle pads
(kittsuke and hadatsuke) under the saddle, and shiode cords
were attached to the four corners of the saddle to secure thebreastplate and crupper; reins were attached to bridle and bit.
Stirrups in the shape of pots were attached to the saddle withleather straps and pieces of leather called aori, two by three
shaku in size, were placed next to the stirrups on the front
side as protection from dirt. In the image, the imperial envoy
wearing sokutai is just about to mount such a horse. A retainer in suikan and sashinuki is helping to lift him up by pushingfrom beneath. This kind of aid was common when people
unfamiliar with riding horses, including the aristocracy, rodethem. An anecdote regarding Fujiwara no Nobuyori from the
Heiji monogatari (Tale of Heiji) tells that, trying to get on ahorse with the aid of people pushing from below, he fell off
the other side of the horse.
Shigisan engi

1 man in sokutai attire
2 kanmuri
3 hō
4 end of sekitai
5 sekitai
6 uenohakama
7 shoe8 retainer
9 ori-eboshi
10 suikan
11 sashinuki
12 short sword
13 lifting master up from below
14 straw sandals (waraji)
15 horse
16 saddle
17 crupper
18 saddle pad

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