加藤信清筆　羅漢図|Ten Rakan Examining a Painting of White-Robed Kannon

Katō Nobukiyo

1788–92 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

A close look at this picture reveals an extraordinary technical feat: every single element—figures, architecture, tree, even shading—is delineated in tiny Chinese characters that spell out a section of the Lotus Sutra. At once an artistic tour de force and a demonstration of remarkable religious piety, it was created by Katō Nobukiyo, a minor government official who took Buddhist vows in his early fifties. In 1788 he began creating a set of fifty-one painted scrolls. On all but one he painted ten rakan (enlightened followers of the Buddha); an image of the Buddha with attendant bodhisattvas appears on the fifty-first. In 1792 he dedicated the complete set (including this work) to Ryūkōji, temple in Edo (present-day Tokyo).

Artist

Katō Nobukiyo

Date

1788–92

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015