Silken Painting of Emperor Go-Daigo

On October 26, 1330, the year before the Genkō War against the Kamakura shogunate, Emperor Go-Daigo was given a ritual called the Yu-Gi-Kanjo at Jounei-Den in the palace by his Buddhist confidant and renowned painter, Bunkanbo Koshin. It was a initiation ritual. This was the most sacred ritual of the Shingon Buddhism of the time, as it was said to be the highest attainment of esoteric Buddhism. The only thing higher than this is believed to be the attainment of Buddhahood itself. Although it is exceptional for a secular emperor to receive the initiation, it is believed that he followed in the footsteps of his father, Emperor Go-Uda, who was also a prominent practitioner of esoteric Buddhism, and that he had practiced enough to qualify for it. This is not unusual. Go Daigo asked Bunkan to have the empress consort Saionji Kishi, undergo the same ceremony on November 23 of the same year. This work was painted under the supervision or actually painted by of Fumikan Shonin himself.

The setting depicts a scene in which he was 43 years old, but since his portrait shows features of old age, it is thought that he actually modeled his face at the time of his death, when he was about 52 years old. The composition in the painting shows him with features of Vajrasattva, the second founder of Shingon Buddhism, a Bodhisattva who acts as an intermediary between man and Buddha (Vairocana). Vajrasattva, a bodhisattva. It is also said to be related to Go-Daigo's belief in Rāgarāja, one of the incarnations of Vajrasattva. He is said to be wearing a Benkan (crown) of Emperor Jimmu, the Mianfu (robes) of Emperor Chūai.

However, it is unclear whether this work was created under the direction of Go-Daigo himself or his dying wish. However, it is not clear whether the deification of this work was directed by Go-Daigo himself. It is thought that the deification of this work was done hastily as a memorial to the emperor before the 57th day memorial service after his death, and the deification was done by projecting the impressions that Bunkan and other senior retainers of the Southern Court had of Go-Daigo.

On August 1, 1396, four years after the unification of the Northern and Southern dynasties, the temple passed from the hands of a former vassal of the Southern dynasty to the hands of the 12th head of the Toki sect, Youko Shonin, who was the founder of the Toki sect. He was the son of Prince Tsuneaki, the son of Emperor Kameyama (the grandfather of Emperor Go-Daigo), and was also a cousin of Emperor Go-Daigo. Afterwards, it was kept in Shōjōkō-ji (Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujisawa City), the head temple of the Ji-shu sect. On March 21, Eishō 14 (Muromachi period) (1517), a copy of it was made by a priest of the Ji-shu, Yaamida Buddha, and worship was conducted through the copy.

On April 7, 1900, the painting was designated as a National Treasure at the time and later as an Important Cultural Property under the title "silken copy of the statue of Emperor Go Daigo.

Because of its striking features, this work has often been discussed in connection with the theory of kingship of the Kemmu regime, and because until the 20th century, research on the imperial court during the Kamakura period lagged behind and Emperor Go-Daigo's political skills were not highly regarded, it was used as a symbolic image in Yoshihiko Amino's theory of "deformed kingship" in the 1980s. However, since around 2000, it has been used as a symbolic image of Go Daigo. However, a reevaluation of his political skills began around 2000. As for the interpretation of this work as of the beginning of the 21st century, the first is that it is an interpretation of the kingship theory of this work. Go-Uta, Daigo's father, was also famous as an esoteric Buddhist monk, and he is the patron of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, which can be interpreted as the legitimate royal authority to succeed the Daigakuji lineage (the imperial lineage to which Go-Daigo belongs). Secondly, it can be inferred that it represents Go-Daigo's faith in Vairocana.