Illuminating Japan's sacred geography: The Kongo-ji Sun-Moon Landscape Screens

This dissertation employs an in-depth analysis of the Sun-Moon Landscape Screens preserved at Kongo-ji temple of Kawachi Nagano, Japan to explore a long tradition of sun-moon screen painting in East Asian art. The Kongo-ji screens, while heretofore little understood and difficult to date and attribute definitively, hold a pivotal place in this tradition. The dissertation traces the development of the two most prominent elements of the Kongo-ji screens---their sun-moon iconography and yamato-e landscape scenery---from their earliest appearance through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when both were incorporated into the ritual paintings utilized in Esoteric Buddhism. The dissertation concludes that while scholars have generally approached the Konjo-ji screens within the tradition of secular, yamato-e seasonal landscape painting, the screens were probably conceived of as deeply religious works and perhaps functioned as ritual tools within the context of kanjo ordination ceremonies, as Kongo-ji claims. Indeed, iconographic, stylistic and contextual analysis strongly support the conclusion that the Kongo-ji screens were likely viewed as Two World mandala or suijaku mandala within the Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Mikkyo tradition. The study then offers a specific historic context, the struggle of Emperor Go-Daigo to assert his legitimate right to reign during the Nanbokucho period (1336--1392), in which the screens can best be explained and approximately dated. The dissertation suggests that the Kongo-ji screens were likely painted as a legacy in the aftermath of the Southern Court's demise.