View source for The Final Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Short description|Japanese Parinirvana Painting in the Yale University Art Gallery}}{{Infobox artwork
| title = The Final Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni
| image = Myoson - The Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni (Nehan-zu) - 2005.58.1a-b - Yale University Art Gallery.jpg
| other_title_1 = '''Yale Parinirvana'''
| wikidata = Q49228297
| artist = Myōson
| year = 1320–1340
| medium = [[Silk painting]]
| movement = [[Buddhist painting|Butsu-ga]]
| subject = [[Parinirvana]]
| width_metric = 176.5
| length_metric = 293
| width_imperial = 69 1/2
| length_imperial = 115 3/9
| metric_unit = cm
| imperial_unit = in
| museum = [[Yale University Art Gallery]]
| city = [[New Haven]], [[Connecticut]]
| owner = [[Yale University]]
| accession = 2005.58.1a-b
| website = https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/104557
}}'''''The Final Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni'',''' or '''Yale ''Parinirvana (Nehan-zu)''''' is a 14th-century [[Japanese art|Japanese]] [[silk painting]] and [[hanging scroll]] depicting [[Parinirvana]], the death of [[the Buddha]]. Painted by the artist Myōson, during the late [[Kamakura period]] to the [[Nanboku-chō period]] around 1320–1340, the painting served as part of a long line of [[Buddhist holidays|Buddhist holiday observance]] of the Parinirvana, also known as the ''Nirvana Service,'' or ''nehan-e'', in mid-February''.''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Final Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni (Parinirvana or Nehan) {{!}} Yale University Art Gallery |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/104557 |access-date=June 24, 2024 |website=artgallery.yale.edu}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Yiengpruksawan |first=Mimi Hall |date=2007 |title=The Interstitial Buddha: Picturing the Death of Śākyamuni |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40514678 |journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin |pages=44–63 |issn=0084-3539}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Wheelwright |first=Carolyn |date=1985 |title=Late Medieval Japanese Nirvāṇa Painting |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20111154 |journal=Archives of Asian Art |volume=38 |pages=67–94 |issn=0066-6637}}</ref>
Acquired with funds from The Japan Foundation Endowment of the Council on East Asian Studies, and the Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, the painting has been part of the [[Yale University Art Gallery]] since 2005.<ref name=":0" />
== Provenance ==
Painted by Myōson, the work can be traced to the Shōnami workshop, which operated under the Ichijōin office of [[Kōfuku-ji]], in [[Nara (city)|Nara]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rumanek |first=Ivan R.V. |date=2008 |title=FORMATION OF EARLY NOH DRAMA AND LEGENDS OF YÜZAKI |url=https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/100213297_Rum%C3%A1nek.pdf |journal=Asian and African Studies |volume=17 |issue=2008 |pages=261–289}}</ref> Multiple ''Parinirvana'' paintings are known attributed to him and his workshop, including one made for Myōho-ji in [[Hyōgo Prefecture]] in 1325 as well as one owned by Baron Fujita Heitarō.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:般若菩薩曼荼羅図-Mandala of Hannya Bosatsu MET DT209331.jpg|left|thumb|The Hannya Bosatsu Mandala, which was framed together with the Yale Parinirvana by [[Yamanaka & Co.]] (MET 2000.289)]]
The painting during the early 20th century, was sold through [[Yamanaka & Co.]] mounted together with a Hannya Bosatsu mandala from the [[Mary Griggs Burke]] collection, now owned by the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mandala of the Bodhisattva Hannya (Prajnaparamita) {{!}} Japan {{!}} Nanbokuchō period (1336–92) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53205 |access-date=June 24, 2024 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Burke Collection {{!}} Mandala of Han’nya Bosatsu (般若曼荼羅) |url=http://burkecollection.org/catalogue/19-mandala-of-hannya-bosatsu |access-date=June 24, 2024 |website=burkecollection.org}}</ref>
Prior to its acquisition by Yale, the painting was owned by the "Colby Collection" from Los Angeles.<ref name=":0" />
== Background ==
Since the [[Nara period]], the ''Nirvana Service'' was primarily observed on the 15th day of the second month of the lunar calendar, at the main hall of a temple, accompanied by the painting of the [[Reclining Buddha]], surrounded by mourners. The service is accompanied by hymns, chants and a lecture on the description of the painting.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Buddha in Nirvana (Death of Sakyamuni), Kamakura period, 13th century, wood - Tokyo National Museum - DSC05096.jpg|thumb|[[Reclining Buddha]] – Tokyo National Museum]]
[[Kōfuku-ji]] uses the hanging scroll as their primary format of the service, though during the [[Heian period]], most temples utilized [[Buddhist sculpture|statuary]] as their primary format. Painting eventually gained popularity during the 11th century, officially called ''Butsu nehan-e'' (Pictures of the Parinirvâna of the Buddha), of which there were two styles: Type I, and Type II. Type I, popularized during the 11th and 12th centuries, focused on the reclining Buddha; Type II, of which the Yale Parinirvana is among them, focuses on the mourners and animals surrounding the Buddha for emphasis of emotional impact.
Type II during the career of the monk [[Myōe]], who sought to reform the standardized teachings of the Buddhist establishment. Even then, the extant paintings amongst the type shows distinctions tied to specific temples and workshops.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Buddha's Nirvana.jpg|left|thumb|292x292px|Buddha's Nirvana (絹本著色仏涅槃図, kenpon chakushoku butsunehan zu), [[Kongōbu-ji]], 1086 ([[National Treasure (Japan)|National Treasure]]), characteristic of Type I Parinirvana Painting. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yiengpruksawan |first=Mimi Hall |date=2007 |title=The Interstitial Buddha: Picturing the Death of Śākyamuni |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40514678 |journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin |pages=44–63 |issn=0084-3539}}</ref>]]
Many subsequent paintings during the [[Muromachi period]], such as that of [[Tōfuku-ji]], [[Daitoku-ji]], and artists like [[Hasegawa Tōhaku]], proceeded to follow the conventions of the Type II conventions.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
== Description ==
The Yale Parinirvana maintains the conventions of the [[Parinirvana]] scene, based upon the first chapter of the [[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra]], where in [[Kushinagar]], the disciples, mortals, royal patrons, and demons gather and mourn his passing.<ref name=":1" />
Figures in the painting include his half-brother [[Nanda (half-brother of Buddha)|Nanda]], the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] Subhadra, [[Ānanda]] (who lies fainted), the disciple Aniruddha, who tries with multiple attempts to revive him. On the front of the reclining couch, multiple bodhisattvas lie beside him, including [[Kṣitigarbha]], dressed in soft-green monk robes, holding the [[cintamani]] and a staff. Behind the couch, [[Indra]] and retainer [[Vaiśravaṇa]], a portable stupa in hand, stands behind him overcome with emotion. Even their adversaries, [[Vemacitrin]] are seen mourning besides them, framed by whitened trees, though his minions look on suspiciously.<ref name=":1" />
Noted is that the painting on the upper right depicts [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|Maya, the mother of the Buddha]], who long since passed away, descending down from the heavens to oversee his passing, escorted by Aniruddha. The scale of the painting depicts people and entities who intersected with the Buddha in the past, present and future in order to converge at this one event.<ref name=":1" />
The atmosphere and crowded details of the painting is scene to emulate the local aspect of 14th century Japanese street life, as if to emulate a "Kyoto street fair" with carnivalesque aesthetics.<ref name=":1" />
Kṣitigarbha, or Jizo is seen not in mourning as he is prominently depicted in [[Japanese Buddhism]] as a figure who transverses the afterlife and rebirth, saving those who are lost.<ref name=":1" />
== References ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery]]
[[Category:14th-century paintings]]
[[Category:Buddhist paintings]]
[[Category:Japanese paintings]]
[[Category:14th century in Japan]]