LATE MUROMACHI PERIOD (15TH-16TH CENTURY)

Along with the Tanjobutsu [birth of the Buddha], the Nehan [Nirvana] or Dai Nehan [Great Nirvana], the death of Sakyamuni (the historical Buddha), is one of the major events in the Buddhist liturgical calendar, and Nehan paintings are displayed on the fifteenth day of the second month by virtually all Buddhist sects. The earliest Japanese Nehan, dating from 1086, is a relatively simple composition and this style continued from the tenth to the thirteenth century, but during the thirteenth century efforts were made to make depictions of Sakyamuni's death accord more closely with scriptural precedent, with the result that compositions became considerably more crowded and complex. In addition, motifs were increasingly drawn from Chinese paintings of the Song and Yuan dynasties (11th-14th century). For comparative material, see Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan [Kyoto National Museum], Nehanzu no meisaku [Masterpieces of Nirvana Paintings] (Kyoto, 1978).