Artist Unknown Type Color on paper | Year 12th century | |
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Dimensions 26.5 cm × 453.9 cm (10.4 in × 178.7 in) Similar Extermination of Evil, Ban Dainagon Ekotoba, Genji Monogatari Emaki, Tamamushi Shrine, Rouleaux illustrés du Dit de Heiji | ||
Japanese hell scrolls japanese art history little art talks
Hell Scroll (地獄草紙, jigokuzōji) is a scroll depicting seven out of the sixteen lesser hells presented in Kisekyō ("Sutra of the World Arising"). Six of the paintings are accompanied by text, which all begin with the phrase "There is yet another hell", following a description of what the sinners depicted did to end up in this particular hell. The seven hells depicted are the Hell of Excrement, Hell of Measures, Hell of the Iron Mortar, Hell of the Flaming Rooster, Hell of the Black Sand Cloud, Hell of Pus and Blood and Hell of Foxes and Wolves. It is considered likely that the scroll corresponds to the Paintings of the Six Paths commissioned by Emperor Goshirakawa in the 12th century. This handscroll was preserved in Daishō-in in Higashiokubo, Tokyo until the Meiji period, when it came into the hands of the Hara family of Kanagawa, later ending up in the possession of the Japanese government.