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Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 7.2 (2024): 254–293; https://dx.doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.07.02.08
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ritual and Materiality in Buddhism and Asian Religions)
Ritualized Word: Material Networks in Thirteenth-Century Japan
Susan DINE
Vanderbilt University
susan.dine@vanderbilt.edu
Abstract: Ritualized word has a long history in Japan, seemingly predating the introduction of Buddhist practice. This power of word was further emphasized through Buddhist ritual and art. This article examines the interconnectedness of these aspects during the early medieval period, focusing on the depiction of monks reciting the nenbutsu 念仏 (Ch. nian Fo 念佛), a practice honouring Amida Buddha 阿弥陀 (Skt. Amitābha) through spoken recitation, mental visualization, or both. Although nenbutsu practice traces back to the early centuries of Buddhism in Japan, around the beginning of the thirteenth century, artists began to experiment in Buddhist works with how to represent the nenbutsu ritualized word and its complex associations. Through an interdisciplinary approach drawing on discussions of societal systems, ritual, and material culture, this study investigates how paintings and sculptures portraying the nenbutsu were nexuses situated in intervisual and intertextual networks. In doing so, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the ways that the materiality of Buddhist works both constructed and revealed trends of ritualized word in the thirteenth century.
Keywords: Amida, sculpture, painting, nenbutsu, Pure Land, Kamakura
About the Author: Susan Dine of Vanderbilt University works in the fields of Japanese Art History and Museum Studies. Her research includes pre-modern Buddhist visual cultures, particularly the intersections of representations of language, bodies, and materiality in medieval Japanese works. Additionally, she studies Ainu (Indigenous peoples of northern Japan) ritual objects and the histories of their collection and display.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
