Transformation and Appropriation of Woodcut Illustrated Daoist and Buddhist Figures in the Late-Imperial Period

• In Event: Cross-Cuts: New Approaches to Religious Blockprints in China and Beyond, 11th-17th Centuries

Abstract

In this study, I explore the seemingly unrestricted appropriation of Daoist and Buddhist images in the visual culture of late imperial China. Illustrations of Daoist and Buddhist figures (Daoshi renwu) were often included in woodblock-printed books of the Ming period (1368-1644), and their themes, functions, and accessibility held widespread appeal. Images from several editions of books such as Shishi yuanliu (Origin and Transmission of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Teaching, 1425) and Yuedantang xianfo qizong heke (The Combined Printing of Wondrous Traces of Immortals and Buddhas from the Yuedan Studio, 1602) were appropriated into woodblock-printed painting manuals and daily-use encyclopedias, in addition to serving as models for murals and other paintings in Buddhist monasteries in China and Korea. The use of religious figures in woodblock-printed books often redefined these images by rearranging their layouts or adding textual commentaries. However, I question whether the appropriated motifs of Daoist and Buddhist figures became truly independent of their narrative/religious origins. Did the secular nature of many woodblock-printed publications contribute to the illustrations' variations and popularity or restrict their religious efficacy? What were the main considerations of later appropriators when they chose these images rather than other motifs, such as depictions of religious icons? Considering these questions may also shed light on the ways that readers interpreted illustrations in religious woodblock-printed publications.

Author

• Kayi Ho, University of California, Los Angeles