Idealized portraits in sculpture and painting made for the worship and reverence of Shōtoku Taishi 聖徳太子 (ca. 574-622), prince regent of Japan. Shōtoku is widely recognized as a major force in introducing Buddhism to Japan and is credited with codifying twelve court ranks, composing the Constitution of Seventeen Articles, and writing commentary on three Buddhist sutras. Idealized portraits of Shōtoku Taishi were first made soon after his death, but the production of images increased dramatically from the late Heian and Kamakura periods.
Portraits of Shōtoku depict a variety of significant episodes and legends about his life. The majority fall into one of four categories: (1) Namubutsu Taishi-zō 南無仏太子像 (Mantra Chanting), (2) Kōyō Taishi-zō 孝養太子像 (Offering Filial Piety), (3) Kōsan Taishi-zō 講讃太子像 (Lecturing on the Sutra), and (4) Sesshō Taishi-zō 摂政太子像 (Regent Taishi statues).
(1) Namubutsu Taishi-zō depict the prince at the age of two when, on the 15th day of the Second Month, he reputedly faced east, placed his palms together, and recited the namubutsu, a prayer honoring the Buddha's name and calling up his grace. This precocious act is recounted in the early legendary histories such as the Shōtoku Taishi denryaku 聖徳太子伝暦. The earliest record of the image is found in an entry from 1210 of the Azuma kagami 吾妻鏡, which mentions our image installed in the private chapel of Minamoto no Sanetomo 源実朝 (r. 1203-1219). Among the oldest extant Nanbutsu Taishi-zō are the wooden images in the Fogg Art Museum (around 1292), USA and Hōryūji 法隆寺 (1307), Nara.
(2) Kōyō Taishi-zō, often called "Shōtoku Taishi at the Age of 16," are generally thought to represent Shōtoku praying for the recovery of his ill father, Emperor Yōmei 用明 (r. 585- 87). The prince is said to have prayed by his father's side day and night, dressed in full court attire, and holding a long-handled incense burner. Yōmei recovered and, thanks to his son's faith, converted to Buddhism. Images of a youthful Shōtoku in prayer, however, may represent another incident from Shōtoku's 16th year, in which he is said to have stopped to pray during a battle between his clan, the Soga 蘇我, and the Mononobe 物部 faction. The earliest known Kōyō Taishi-zō were sponsored by the Tendai 天台 sect. The oldest known Kōyō Taishi-zō is a painting from the set of portraits of esteemed Tendai monks (Ichijōji 一乗寺, Hyōgo Prefecture, late 11th century). Shōtoku is shown seated cross-legged on a low dais wearing a monastic surplice *kesa 袈裟 and holding a long-handled incense burner. Inscriptions on the Ichijōji set suggest that the paintings were patterned after wall-painting produced before 946 of Enryakuji 延暦寺 on Mt. Hiei 比叡. The inclusion of Shōtoku in the set is based on the acceptance of the prince as an incarnation of the second Tendai patriarch Huisi (Jp: Eshi 慧思, 515-77). Another early image of Kōyō Taishi is included in a painting of 36 venerated monks, from Ninnaji 仁和寺 (1163), Kyoto. In other early Kōyō Taishi-zō, references are made to Shōtoku as the reincarnation of *Kannon 観音, and apparently these images were worshipped by those seeking salvation and protection from disease and disaster, just as Kannon images were worshipped. From the late 13th century on, the majority of Kōyō Taishi in painting and sculpture assume a standing posture. The 14th-century Kōyō images come to depict him holding a scepter, along with the censer. The scepter, representative of secular authority, contrasts with the censer, which is indicative of spiritual pursuits.
(3) Kōsan Taishi-zō represent an episode from Shotoku's 35th year, when he was ordered by Empress Suiko 推古 (r. 592-628) to discourse on the Shōmangyō 勝鬘経. According to the Shōtoku Taishi denryaku, Shōtoku sat on a lion's throne, holding a yak's tail fly whisk and lectured on the sutra. When finished, huge lotus petals fell miraculously from the heavens. Suiko erected a temple, Tachibanadera 橘寺, on the site. Painted and sculpted Kōsan Taishi-zō show the prince crowned and seated, usually holding a fan. The oldest record of a Kōsan Taishi image is found among inventory documents of the Tōin 東院 at Hōryūji, dated 761.
(4) Sesshō Taishi-zō show Shōtoku as regent, between the ages of 32 and 49. He is usually depicted seated, wearing courtly attire and holding a scepter. The oldest known Sesshō Taishi image is a painting from the early Nara period (8th century) in the Imperial Household Collection, which is traditionally called the Karahon no Miei 唐本御影 (Chinese Style Portrait of a Nobleman). Shōtoku stands with scepter in hand, flanked on each side by the smaller princes Yamashiro 山背 and Heguri 殖栗. The earliest extant sculpture of Sesshō Taishi is from the *Shōryō'in 聖霊院 at Hōryūji (1121). In this work, the prince is seated, flanked by four accompanying figures.
Shōtoku Taishi-zō became prevalent from the 12th-13th century. It has been suggested that the Namubutsu, Kōyō, Kōsan and Sesshō Taishi images represent the principal stages in the prince's life: infancy, youth and manhood, based on the widely disseminated Shōtoku Taishi denryaku. The popularity of these particular scenes from Shōtoku's life is more likely due to their use by the new, popular sects of Buddhism such as Jōdo 浄土, Jōdoshin 浄土真, Ritsu 律, and Hokke 法華, which venerated the Taishi as founder and promoter of Buddhism in Japan, as well as an incarnation of such important Buddhist figures as *Shaka 釈迦, the historical Buddha. One factor in the appeal of Nanubutsu Taishi-zō seems to have been the parallel between the story of the two-year old Taishi reciting the namubutsu and the pictorialized story of Shaka as an infant pointing one hand to heaven and the other to earth roaring like a lion, "I am the Lord of the World." Similarly, Kōsan Taishi images seem to parallel the account and depictions of the enlightened Shaka's lecture at the Deer Park, also delivered at age 35. During a time of political and social upheaval, such as occurred in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods, when the faithful feared that the period of mappō 末法 (degeneration of the Dharma Law) was at hand, the direct connection between Taishi and Shaka provided reassuring evidence of the authenticity of Japanese Buddhism and the benefits and salvation promised specifically in the teachings of these sects.