Historical Materials No.55

Collection of Old Drawings from Horyuji

Collection of Old Drawings from Horyuji

Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute Publications on Historical Materials

Volume LV

 

 This Collection of Old Drawings from Horyuji (Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute Publications on Historical Materials Volume LV) here being made public is a set of materials centered on drawings which through a variety of circumstances have been passed down at Horyuji. A good number of documents and other materials besides drawings, plus materials from the early modern period are also included, and are introduced here in collective fashion.

 The materials presented in this collection total 269 items all together. These breakdown into 174 items which had been organized by book stack numbers, fifty items held collectively in a wooden box marked “itemized log of the temple [jiin meisaicho],” nineteen items classified as drawings, ten items as woodcuts for printing, plus an additional sixteen items held singly, including two drawings of Horyuji’s Ikaruga estate in Harima province. The method of counting these materials follows the accession numbers currently in use at Horyuji. The above organization results from the collecting and sorting, from the early modern period on, of materials which had been handed down through a variety of means within the temple; as they are thus regarded as already having been separated from the contexts in which they were originally transmitted, and given that many are mutually related in terms of their contents, they are introduced in this volume through illustrations composed on the basis of a categorization of their subject matter, regardless of the manner in which they are currently held. Incidentally, while it is expected that documentary materials related to the drawings presented in this collection are to be found in the archives of Horyuji, for the most part these will be left to future research.

 The old drawings presented on this occasion breakdown largely as follows.

 A. Drawings of the Horyuji precints

  1. Illustrations of the cloister (bird’s-eye views and horizontal plans)

  2. Drawings of subtemples

  3. Architectural drawings, etc., from within the temple compound

  4. Drawings of gatherings for Buddhist lectures

  5. Drawings related to land claims, etc.

 B. Drawings of branch temples and estates of Horyuji

 C. Other materials

 The items in section A are descriptive of conditions within the temple precincts, including items such as: documents showing the layout of the compound as a whole, the grounds and building layouts of subtemples, or of the conditions of buildings and matters related to their repairs: the architectural features, centered on the subtemples, of the Horyuji precincts; the utilization of the buildings as seen in drawings of gatherings for lectures; the results of land claims within the temple.

 The items of Section B are descriptive of the conditions of Horyuji’s branch temples and estates, and include maps showing the environs of Horyuji village, where the temple is located.

 The above materials, related more or less to Horyuji’s real estate in terms of its buildings and land, and transmitted to the present because of their original function as drawings, comprise the greater part of this collection. By contrast, Section C includes materials unrelated to Horyuji’s land or buildings, which have been assembled through a variety of means.

 As for drawings for which the date of production is clear, whereas there are four items, including the two illustrations of the Ikaruga estate, which go back to the Kamakura and the beginning of the Muromachi periods in the fourteenth century, plus two more dating to the fifteenth and one to the sixteenth centuries, the largest portion dates from the mid Edo through the Meiji periods, with the most recent coming forward in time to the Taisho period.

 Brief explanations of the contents of each drawing are provided (in Japanese only) at the back of this volume. As for the present locations of the originals, please refer to the appended chart, “A List of Old Drawings from Horyuji.” Data in the chart have been provided by the Horyuji temple administration.

 While some of the materials included in this publication have already been introduced as “Old Architectural Drawings” and “Pictures” in Horyuji no shiho [Treasures of Horyuji] vol. 2 and 8 (Shogakukan), these have been included in this volume in consideration of their significance as illustrative materials despite the duplication, with their catalog numbers in Horyuji no shiho given in notes.

 The publication of this volume has benefited from the full understanding and cooperation of the Horyuji temple administration, for which we wish to express our gratitude.

 

CONTENTS

On the Publication of Collection of Old Drawings from Horyuji                              Chief Abbot of Horyuji, ONO Genmyo              (iii)

Foreword                           (v)

Contents                            (vii)

Legend                              (xv)

Plates                                 1

Explanatory Notes                                         71

(Appended chart) List of Old Drawings from Horyuji                 (4)

English Abstract and Table of Contents                                                   (1)

 

2001

Independent Administrative Institution

National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. Nara

 

二〇〇一年十一月三十日 発行

法隆寺古絵図集

奈良文化財研究所史料第五十五冊

 

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