Gaki zōshiGaki zōshiOverview

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IIThe two extant examples of the Gaki zōshi (Scroll ofHungry Ghosts) are the Kōmoto family version and theSōgenji temple version. The Kōmoto family scroll has beentransferred to the Tokyo National Museum, while the Sōgenji
version is on deposit in the Kyōto National Museum. The one
from which extracts are shown here is the Kōmoto familyversion.
The Kōmoto family version lacks a textual portion. Apartfrom one scene, the scroll depicts some of the thirty-six typesof gaki, or “hungry ghosts”, that appear in theSaddharmasmrtyupasthana or Sutra of Right Mindfulness.
The artist is unknown, and the dating of this handscroll isalso uncertain, though it may date from the late Fujiwara
period (late twelfth century). Rokudōe, scrolls depicting theBuddhist concept of the six realms of rebirth, including theYamai zōshi (Diseases and Deformities) and the Jigoku zōshi(Hell scroll), were created in considerable numbers at thattime.
The six realms in Rokudōe are hell, gaki, animals, ashura,humans, and heavenly beings. Illustrations that also include
the four realms for enlightened beings (arhats, pratyeka buddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas) are known as paintings ofthe ten realms (Jikkaizu).
Japanese texts referring to gaki include the Man’yōshū, theearliest extant Japanese poetry anthology, which dates fromthe eighth century. The verse “Loving you, who loves me not,is like going to a great temple to bow in devotion behind theback of a gaki” (Volume 4, No.608) is one example. Similarly,“The female gaki at temples throughout the land yearn only
to have the male gaki of Ōmiwa and bear his offspring”(Volume 16, No.3840). Those very old examples suggest thatthe concepts of hell and gaki may have entered Japan withthe transmission of Buddhism and that representations ofthem, as paintings or wooden carvings, were placed in temples. The Nihon ryōiki (Account of Japanese Supernatural andStrange Stories) describes a painting of the Rokudō or six
realms and its installation in a temple, telling us that Rokudōewere being produced that early. The Buddhist faithful probably had, therefore, some awareness of the concept of gaki,
but widespread adoption of the idea among ordinary people
would wait until the Buddhist priest Genshin (942-1017)
wrote the Ōjōyōshū (Essentialia about Birth in the Pure Land)in easy-to-understand Japanese in 985. That work taught theefficacy of the nembutsu (chanting the vow, “I put my faith inAmidha Buddha”) and stimulated the growth of nembutsubased sects. Another effect of his writing was a surge in thepainting of Rokudōe. The Gaki zōshi presented here is one
product of that time.
The Sōgenji version is thought to date from approximately
the same period, but is by a different hand. It also has a textual portion. Thus, we can infer that “hungry ghosts” scrolls
were produced in several variants.

The Rokudōe include some, such as the Yamai zōshi, that
depict a variety of forms of human disease and suffering andthus are important materials for learning about the illnesses
that were of concern at the time. Others, such as the Jigokuzōshi, fall into the category of karae, paintings that reference
Chinese painting, depicting a horde of demons in a mannerthat suggests Chinese mores. The Kōmoto family version of
the Gaki zōshi, however, is particularly interesting because itshows, along with the grotesque gaki, how the Japanese of
the time lived.
The first section shows aristocrats having a female dancer
dressed as a man (shirabyōshi) in attendance as they playmusical instruments (biwa, koto, drums, wooden clappers)
and enjoy a banquet. It is an excellent source for learning
about parties at that time. The second shows a birthing roomand depicts a woman giving birth. The third shows people
relieving themselves on the street. From that we learn thatone purpose for wearing tall geta was to keep excrement fromlanding on clothing while defecating. We also learn that,apart from paper, a wooden stick was used for wiping. The
fourth and fifth sections show cemeteries and are valuable
sources of information on burial customs.
The Sōgenji version of the Gaki zōshi also includes one
scene showing contemporary customs.

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1 man finishing defecation
2 nae-eboshi
3 kosode
4 walking stick (two-pronged)
5 baring one’s bottom
6 ashida
7 woman defecating
8 wearing one’s hair down
9 covering one's mouth with a sleeve
10 uchigi
11 squatting for defecation
12 taka-ashida

13 feces
14 sutegi
15 paper
16 kinukazuki
17 naked child defecating
18 wearing one’s hair down
19 old woman defecating
20 zukin
21 walking stick (T-shaped handle)
22 wickerwork wall
23 pillar

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693 Defecation
Here defecation is illustrated. The Gaki zōshi and Yamaizōshi are precious sources with regard to this kind of illustration of daily behavior. The Wamyō ruijūshō refers to excrement as kuso, and the Ishinbō refers to defecation as hiri-kuso.
In the Kojiki, Susano-o was punished for kuso-mari-chirasu(scattering his feces) in the sacred hall for the offering of thefirst fruits of the harvest. Reference to his defecation as kusohe also appears in the list of “heavenly sins” (amatsu-tsumi) ina norito (prayer) recorded in the Engishiki. Feces were considered unclean, and scattering them around would beregarded as polluting the place. Thus there seems to haveexisted rules regarding where and when to defecate to avoid
such pollution.
There is an amusing story titled “The Story of Ordering a
Kana Calendar” in the Uji shūi monogatari: “Once there wasan inexperienced lady-in-waiting at a certain house. She
asked for some paper and said to a young priest who happened to be there, ‘please write a kana calendar.’ The priest
assured her that ‘it is an easy task’ and started writing. Atfirst he wrote properly such as ‘good for praying to the gods
and buddhas,’ ‘kan-nichi’ (an unlucky day), or ‘kue-nichi’(another type of unlucky day), but towards the end, he began
to write such as ‘a day not to eat anything,’ or ‘for such-andsuch reason, a day to eat heartily’ . . . In an entry for another14

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day he had written in ‘do not do hako.’ Though she wondered
how that could be, she told herself that there should be a reason for it and spent the day suppressing herself. But then thepriest had written repeatedly ‘do not do hako,’ ‘do not dohako’ for many days in a row, for a long period of kue-nichi.
After two or three days, however she tried to suppress herself, it became hardly bearable and it is told that, holding herbottom with both hands, she wriggled and jiggled, saying‘what shall I do, what shall I do,’ almost passing out.” Hako
means kuso; in the Inland Sea region people still use thisterm.
Ordinary people did not have a toilet and apparently evacuated in the open air. It is clear from these pictures that a pairof high ashida was a necessity for such defecation. Aged people held on to sticks as an aid while defecating. For wiping
one’s bottom, paper and sutegi, a piece of wood for this purpose, were used.

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1 woman giving birth
2 wearing one’s hair down
3 cord for tying the hair
4 baby5 mat
6 gaki7 uchigi
8 tate-eboshi
9 kariginu
10 bow
11 ?
12 stool
13 zukin

14 wooden floor
15 wooden container(used as both chamber pot and stool)
16 lid of wooden container
17 threshold
18 tatami
19 sliding door
20 curtain
21 pillar
22 wall
23 mairado
24 lintel

94 Childbirth
Scenes of childbirth can be found in several medieval setsuwa-ga (narrative picture) works, and this is one of those illustrations. While in the illustrations of the Kitano Tenjin engi or
the Jikkaizu the midwife holds the woman in labor from thefront, in this picture, remarkably, the baby’s delivery is clearly depicted. The midwife is cutting the umbilical cord with asort of bamboo blade. In Japan, childbirth was always done ina sitting position. The site was in general a place different
from the usual residence, and special furnishings were prepared. The tatami on which the mother sat had to have white
edgings and the kichō screens were also white. It is also said
that oshioke for making an offering to the gods had to be pre-120

pared. Yet it seems that the scene in this picture does notnecessarily follow such standard manners of the time. Thebucket on the wooden floor does not appear to be an oshioke,
but rather seems to be a chamber pot. Though it is a roundwooden bucket, presumably it is a kind of shinohako (chamber pot), deriving from the word hako meaning excrement.
The paper scattered around the bucket appears to have beenused for wiping the bottom. A sutegi does not seem to be
used here. Since stools were used in childbirth, one of thesebuckets may have been used as a stool. At the left there is asliding mairado door, and a man with tate-eboshi stands. Whathe holds in his hands must be a hikime arrow and bow for themeigen rite, twanging the bow string to chase evil spiritsaway.

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1 mound tomb
2 sotoba
3 tomb built of stone
4 memorial
5 small sotoba (fence)
6 skull
7 corpse (male)
8 straw matting
9 corpse (female)
10 cloth
11 bowl
12 dish13 skeleton

1295 Tombs
In this picture, two mound tombs, one tomb built of stone,
three bodies, and two skulls are depicted. It is known frommany records and archeological sites that from early times
nobles were buried in huge mound tombs after their death. Itis widely argued that such a custom ended after the court
ordered in the Nara period that funerals should be kept modest, but the truth is that it continued until much later periods,
though on a reduced scale. The tombs in this picture areexamples of this. Cremation also started from the reign ofEmpress Jitō (686-97). It is told that a priest of the GangōjiTemple named Dōshō was cremated. However, cremation
did not take root easily, and was only used in certain cases.
For example, when there was death from disease among soldiers on a military campaign, the body was disposed of bycremation. Or else, according to the Ryōnogige, when someone died while on a trip for official purposes, people weresupposed to let the family at home know and to bury thebody temporarily by the road, marking the site with a monument. If no one appeared to pick up the body, it was supposed to be cremated. Therefore burial and cremation continued to be practiced in parallel, and the mound tomb in thepicture is presumably a burial site. Apart from burial and cremation, there were cases in which the corpse was just abandoned at the burial site.

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1 mound tomb
2 skull3 eating a corpse
4 corpse
5 wooden coffin
6 cloth
7 balancing pole
8 rope9 dish10 paper
11 tomb built of stone
12 gorintō
13 fence

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96 Tomb
Initially people did not erect grave memorials on moundtombs, so tombs built of stone presumably were used aftercremation or as a reburial site. When the corpse was buriedin a wooden coffin, the coffin decayed underground and eventually could not support the soil above it, with the result thatthe ground sunk. It thus was not usual to erect a tomb memorial right after the burial. Therefore, except for cases of cremation, tombs were often constructed for reburial.
Occasionally, grave memorials were erected at the site of cremation or reburial. The memorial could be a sotoba like what
we see at the center of picture 95, small stone pagodas called
gorintō like that shown in this picture, a plank monument, ornatural stone. The marker at the right of picture 95 is something like an image of Amitabha Buddha and two Bosatsu
drawn on a plank with a little roof, with sotoba at both sides,
and the whole memorial is surrounded by a fence-like row ofsmall sotoba. In picture 96, the tomb made of layers of stone122

is surrounded by a fence. It seems that even among theupper class, cremation and burial existed in parallel at thetime. With the lower classes, where the corpse was abandoned at the burial site, some were left on a straw matting,some were not even covered with a matting, as we can see inpicture 95, and some were left in a wooden coffin, which isthe case in this picture. Such corpses were devoured bydogs, picked at by crows, weathered, turned into a skeleton,and dispersed in the due passage of time. In the Heian period, nobles apparently owned their own cemetery; the cemetery of the Fujiwara lineage was in Hino, in the southern outskirts of Kyōto. For ordinary people there were common
cemeteries, but people also abandoned corpses in open
spaces, such as the riverside of the Kamo River in Kyōto. The
reason the idea of the pollution of death was strong among
ordinary people must lie in the fact that they daily saw such areality; the miserable state of human beings after death musthave evoked a strong sense of impermanence.

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1 man striking clappers
2 tate-eboshi
3 collar
4 nōshi
5 clappers
6 stemmed dish7 woman playing hand drum
8 wearing one’s hair down
9 uchigi
10 hand drum
11 woman playing koto
12 koto13 tray
14 tatami
15 kōrai pattern cloth edging
16 wooden floor

97 Feast
This picture continues to 98 and illustrates the scene of afeast. In particular, this is a casual feast called onza.
According to the Gōshidaishō, onza was not a formal andstately occasion, and the members casually exchanged conversation; thus people relaxed and enjoyed music. In this picture, too, the man sits in front of a takatsuki piled with foodand sings while keeping time with wooden clappers, and oneof the women also sings while playing a drum. The otherwoman plays a koto. They are sitting on tatami with kōrai pattern cloth edging, laid on a wooden floor. According to thediary of Fujiwara no Yorinaga (Taiki), “The twenty-second
day of the twelfth month of the first year of Kyūju (1154) . . .
When someone during a month to spend in seclusion holds ataikyō ceremony (a large feast sponsored by ministers orimperial consorts during the first month), there should be nomusic by the royal musicians, but private music at onza is stillperformed.” Therefore onza was held after the formal feast.
This onza appears to have been very popular; the saying onza
no hatsumono (the first fruits of the season served at theonza), meaning the tasty stuff comes out later, seems to suggest how much people cherished onza in the past.

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1 man playing biwa
2 tate-eboshi
3 kariginu
4 baring one shoulder
5 hakama
6 biwa7 plectrum
8 gaki9 stemmed dish10 small dish11 tray
12 dish (sake cup?)
13 dish14 tatami
15 kōrai pattern cloth edging

98 Biwa
This picture is part of the same scene as 97, in which a feastis illustrated. A man has removed one sleeve of his suikan
and is playing a biwa. Biwa were brought to Japan fromChina early on and are included in the collection of theShōsōin treasury. A biwa in the Shōsōin is famous for its illustration of a camel under the strings. It seems that this instrument was associated with exoticism from early in its history.
The Taigenshō reads, “Always draw a kara-e (Chinese stylepainting) under the strings and write the characters of tenchi-jin (heaven-earth-man). Moon, haze, and birds in theheaven, a foreigner as the man, and stone, water, grass, andtrees on the earth.” Biwa were valued highly, and instruments with good sound and excellent workmanship were124

long celebrated. The instrument in this picture is carried horizontally, and the man uses a narrow plectrum. It is anancient style. In front of the man small dishes of food are laidout on a takatsuki together with trays, at both sides of thetakatsuki, and dishes. The dish without a bottom rim seems
to be a sake cup. Drinking sake, people enjoyed playing thebiwa, koto, and so on, and singing. Some stories related tobiwa appear in setsuwa anthologies such as the Kokonchomonjū and the Konjaku monogatarishū, which proves thedepth of people’s love for this instrument. Biwa played likethis gradually became popular among ordinary people fromaround the end of the Heian period, and later the tradition
developed of telling stories accompanied by biwa, as exemplified by the chanters of the Heike monogatari (Tale of theHeike).