Session VII: Artist Nuns and Patron Nuns
 

"Two 17th-Century Imperial Buddhist Nuns and Their Art:
Bunchi-ni and Gen'yo-ni"

-- Patricia Fister --

HakuhoWomen's College
fister@hakuho.ac.jp
 

        I will present some of the materials I have discovered recently in the course of my research on Zen nun artists, focusing on Bunchi-ni (1610-1697) and Gen'yo-ni (1634-1727). Because of their high status (both were daughters of Emperor Gomizuno-o) and the fact that they were founders of temples, documentation is plentiful and examples of their art (paintings, calligraphy, sculptures) have been well preserved.

        I have been particularly interested in exploring the roles that are played in their lives and Buddhist practice. I will briefly discuss their artistic and religious backgrounds, and their intentions in creating art. While both women painted primarily images of Kannon, their personal aims were rather different. I will also examine the relationships between these nuns and the various temples owning their works. Many of the works I have found appear to have been donated personally by the nuns to temples connected with their teachers or Emperor Gomizuno-o, who actually became recognized as a Zen master in one of the Obaku lineages. Gen'yo-ni had close associations with Obaku temples in Kyoto and Shiga, and her name appears repeatedly in the goroku of several well-known Obaku monks. I will cite some selected passages to show the kinds of information that can be gathered from such texts.

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