Shigisan-engi


Shigisan-engi is an emakimono or painted handscroll made in the second half of the 12th century. The story details miracles which were attributed to the monk Myōren, who lived on Mount Shigi near Nara in Japan in the latter part of the 9th century.
The tales are composed in the genre of engi. Engi is a narrative that chronicles the founding of a Buddhist or Shinto establishment which, in the case of the Shigisan engi, is Chōgosonshi-ji, where Myōren used to live. The tales are painted in a style called otoko-e, or "men's pictures", a style characterized by active movement, outdoor scenes and a certain feeling of lacking restraint. Otoko-e is part of a larger style of Japanese painting called yamato-e. The work is also a prime example of Heian scroll painting, as well as of yamato-e, since most of the early yamato-e and scroll paintings are nowadays lost.