Nachisan Shrine Mandala
The Nachisan Shrine Mandala depicts Kumano Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine and its surroundings at the time the mandala was painted roughly five centuries ago. More than thirty copies of the mandala are known to survive, but this one is particularly well-preserved, and has been designated a Cultural Property of Wakayama Prefecture.
This painting is one of the earliest examples of the pilgrimage mandala genre, which depicted pilgrims traveling through sites of spiritual importance. This in turn evolved from the original concept of a mandala as an abstract graphic expression of doctrine or cosmology. Kumano bikuni (nuns) carried copies of the Nachisan Shrine Mandala across Japan, unrolling them in public spaces to use as visual aids when preaching the Kumano faith. The mandala showed people what they could expect when they made the pilgrimage.
Structuring the Sacred
At the top and center of the mandala are five sanctuary buildings (honden) in a row, although the fifth is set slightly back. A longer sixth sanctuary, the Hasshaden, is at a perpendicular angle to the left. The current sanctuary buildings are arranged in essentially the same L-shaped layout. Note the crows in front of the buildings. These hint at the Yatagarasu (three-legged crow), which figures heavily in Kumano legend.
Structurally, the mandala can be analyzed in many ways. Amida-ji Temple and the moon at the upper left clearly contrast with Nachi Waterfall and the sun at the upper right, forming a horizontal opposition of yin and yang, or death and life. Others see a “yin axis” associated with the afterlife stretching diagonally from top left to bottom right, where a monk is seen preparing to depart Fudarakusan-ji Temple by boat. He is setting out on the “crossing to Fudaraku,” a self-martyrdom ritual.
Lead Characters
The same pair of white-clad pilgrims are depicted at many places in the mandala, showing their progress through the sacred site. This technique of portraying multiple moments on the same landscape was common in traditional Japanese art, and was often used in picture-scrolls illustrating travel.
Significantly, one pilgrim is male and the other female, signaling that the Kumano faith did not discriminate on the basis of gender. The openness of the faith is also shown by the diversity of the visitors: nobles and commoners, mountain ascetics and traveling merchants, dengaku dancers, and a monk carrying a biwa (lute) on his back. All were, and are, welcome at Kumano.
