Overview

This decorated sutra is Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (J., Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumonbon), from the Lotus Sutra (Skt., Saddharma pundarika Sutra; J., Myôhôrengekyô or simply Hokekyô), which explains how the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (J., Kanzeon or Kannon) saves all beings in need of help by taking on thirty-three manifestations. The frontispiece is painted in ashide (“reed”) style, which incorporates characters and motifs set within a vibrant yamato-e (Japanese-style) landscape. The morning sun rises into the clear sky from a softly undulating hillside, below which is a lotus pond. Following this landscape is the text, which was copied alternately on white, cloud-designed, purple, light blue, and light brown colored papers. At the end of the scroll, written in ashide style, is a verse in three stanzas: “Pure, immaculate light, the blessed sun breaks through the darkness, always shining upon the world.”