Portraits of Chogen: The Transformation of Buddhist Art in Early Medieval Japan

This volume, the first in Brill’s Japanese Visual Culture series, vividly describes the efforts of the Japanese monk Shunjobo Chogen (1121–1206) to restore major buildings and works of art lost in a brutal civil conflict in 1180. Through meticulous study of dedicatory material, Rosenfield is able to place the splendid Buddhist statues made for Chogen in new light. The volume also explores how Japan’s rulers employed the visual arts as instruments of government policy – a tactic that recurs throughout the nation’s history. This publication includes an annotated translation of Chogen’s memoir, completed near the end of his life, in which he recounts his many achievements. While Chogen has been the subject of major art exhibitions and extensive research in Japan; this is the first book-length study to appear in the West.