Volume 3 of Illustrated Origins of Kiyomizu Temple

This illustrated scroll depicts the origin of Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto and the rewards bestowed by its principal image of worship, the Thousand-armed Kannon, or Sahasrabhuja in Sanskrit. It is the third scroll in a set of three and recounts the miraculous tales associated with this Thousand-armed Kannon. While scenes on display could vary depending on the season, let us introduce them from the beginning of the scroll. The first scene depicts the tale of when Kenkei, a priest from Kiyomizu-dera, visited Shinano province, or present-day Nagano prefecture. Kenkei is captured by a giant snake, but the snake flees after Kenkei prays to his temple and vows to make two Nio guardian statues and place them at the temple's main gate. The next scene depicts the funeral of Emperor Nijo in the 12th century. It shows a stand-off between the priests of two powerful temples of the time – Mount Hiei's Enryakuji Temple and Nara's Kofukuji Temple. Though the funeral ended peacefully with no major disturbances, in the same year armed priests from Mount Hiei are said to have stormed Kiyomizu-dera and burnt it down.

At that time, the temple's Thousand-armed Kannon saved itself by jumping from the burning hall to land in a Japanese cypress tree. This scene is depicted in the third picture. The fourth picture recounts the story of how Morihisa, a warrior from the Taira clan, was captured by the Minamoto clan. Morihisa held a strong reverence for Kiyomizu-dera Temple, and one night he was visited in a dream by an old priest who gave him a secret incantation. The fifth picture shows the scene of Morihisa's execution. After uttering the spell from his dream, Morihisa is saved from death when the executioner's sword snaps in two on his neck. If you are interested in looking at scenes that are not shown in the gallery, please go to “e-Museum” website. This scroll depicts the history of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. In this section, a traveling monk from the temple is attacked by a giant snake while sleeping under a pine tree. After pleading with the gods for help and vowing to dedicate a sacred sculpture to the temple, he is left unharmed by the snake.

— Museum description: Tokyo National Museum (CC BY 4.0), via ColBase / Japan Search.