Kakuzenshō 覚禅鈔

Keywords
Art History
Painting
Document

Compilation of Kakuzen. An early Kamakura-period compilation of traditional Buddhist iconography. Also called Hyakkanshō 百巻鈔 (Selection of 100 Chapters), it was edited by Kakuzen 覚禅 (1143-1213), priest of the Ono 小野 lineage in the Shingon 真言 sect, during his retirement at Jōdoin 浄土院 in Kanjuji 勧修寺 (also known as Kajūji or Kanshūji), Kyoto. Because Kakuzen spent decades gathering material from various temples and priests, the postscript lists the beginning and terminal dates of the work as Angen 安元 2 (1170) and Kenryaku 建暦 3 (1213), respectively. Kakuzenshō provides a detailed summary of various religious rites and texts. Compared to *Zuzōshō 図像抄 and *Besson zakki 別尊雑記, its narrative structure is somewhat confused yet it surpasses those texts in its wealth of information. Among the various versions, the one in Dainihon Bukkyō zensho 大日本仏教全書 includes 369 illustrations in 154 chapters, while the Kanjuji version reproduced in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大蔵経 has 464 illustrations in 136 chapters.