Mincho’s ‘Five Hundred Arhats’ repaired and set for display in ‘Tokufu-ji’ exhibit

“The Five Hundred Arhats” of Tofuku-ji temple — a government-designated important cultural property — is on its way to Tokyo National Museum (Ueno Park) to be exhibited in “Tōfuku-ji: Monumental Zen Temple of Kyoto” (March 7-May 7, 2023), a special exhibition featuring a number of Buddhist artwork associated with the Zen temple.

Originally a set of 50 paintings portraying the 500 disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha by priest-artist Kissan Mincho (1352-1431), “The Five Hundred Arhats” will go on public view for the first time after having undergone major repair work, which lasted as long as 14 years.

Muromachi-period artist Mincho was regarded by many as the gasei (painter-saint) of his time. He spent more than three years to finish the 50 paintings, each of which is about 170 centimeters in height and about 90 centimeters in width. 10 rakan (arhats) are depicted in each painting based on Buddhist anecdotes and other material.

4 repair shops cooperate to complete 14-year project

“The Five Hundred Arhats” last went under major repair more than three centuries ago, in 1699. This time, conservators embarked on a mission to restore 45 of the original paintings remaining at Tofuku-ji, plus two paintings which were reproduced by a Kano-school painter in the early Edo period. What started in 2008 continued for 14 years.

The silk base was found chipping and pigment peeling on all 47 paintings. The meticulous, slow and steady repair work involved: taking photos to assess the degree of damage to each painting; applying liquid nikawa (animal glue) to prevent further peeling of pigment layers; disassembling mountings to remove old backing paper; and adding miniscule pieces of silk to the damaged base and attaching new backing paper.

Repair work on cultural properties are usually conducted by a single workshop or studio. This time, however, four repair shops were rallied to deal with the numerous paintings. They managed to put their differences aside and used the same material for an unvarying finish. Information was constantly shared so that the idiosyncrasies of a certain conservator did not stand out among others.

(Photos of the repair courtesy of Oka Bokkodo)

The special exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum will also put on display two original paintings owned by the Nezu Museum in Tokyo and another reproduction based on preliminary sketches other than the 47 paintings from Tofuku-ji, thereby presenting all 50 paintings of “The Five Hundred Arhats.” (The paintings will be rotated twice during the exhibition’s run.)

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)