Jūhachi rakan zusan 十八羅漢図讃

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Sherry D. Fowler

Posted June 3, 2016

In the Theravada Buddhist tradition arhats (J. rakan, C. luohan), also known as “worthy ones” (J. sonja, C. zunzhe), are regarded as enlightened disciples of the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni. They lived in different locations with their own gatherings of disciples and were endowed with a variety of supernatural powers, including the ability to fly, be in two places at once, or communicate with animals. Jūhachi rakan zusan, or Poems and Images of the Eighteen Arhats, demonstrates these capabilities. For example, Subinda (no. 6) leans over a rock to gaze at a mythical lion, Nakula (no. 7) holds a jewel just spit out by a dragon, Shakyamuni’s son Rahula (no. 13) confronts a tiger, and Nagasena (no. 14) clasps a bell while chanting to a snake.

Depictions of arhats are conventionally assembled in groups of four, sixteen, eighteen, or five hundred. Jūhachi rakan zusan illustrates eighteen arhats. Each is identified by name, is numbered, and is accompanied by a line or two of descriptive text along with two poems by two eminent Chinese writers: one is a verse by Su Shi (aka Su Dongpo) (1036–1101) and the other an encomium by Wang Shizen (1526–1590).

Jūhachi rakan zusan was issued in Kyoto in 1687. The first page acknowledges the publication’s source as the section on arhats (no. 29) in the broadly distributed 1607 Chinese encyclopedia Sancai tuihui (J. Sansai zue, Illustrated Compendium of the Three Powers) by Wang Qi. Both image and text in Jūhachi rakan zusan closely follow the Chinese book with only minor changes. In addition, the section also includes the accompanying script (J.okurigana) that enables the conversion of the Chinese characters into Japanese as well as the individual names of the arhats.

Jūhachi rakan zusan identifies each arhat by name, whereas Sancai tuihui simply identifies them by numbers. As the Chinese characters used for the arhat names vary widely, the approximation of the Sanskrit names here is based on the abbreviated Japanese names given in Jūhachi rakan zusan as follows:

1) Mahakasyapa (J. Kasatsu)

2) Kundopandhaniya (J. Guntohatsutan)

3) Pindola (J. Bindora)

4) Kanakavasa (J. Nakabasa)

5) Kanakabharadvaja (J. Harari)

6) Subinda (J. Subinda)

7) Nakula (J. Nakura)

8) Bhadra (J. Ridda)

9) Kalika (J. Kara)

10) Vajraputra (J. Basa)

11) Gopaka (J. Gopaka)

12) Panthaka (J. Handa)

13) Rahula (J. Ragora)

14) Nagasena (J. Nagasena)

15) Angaja (J. Ōkita)

16) Vanavasin (J. Banabashi)

17) Ajita (J. Ajita)

18) Cudapanthaka (J. Shurahanji).¹

In 1712, Wakan sansai zue, or Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia—an expanded text incorporating ideas and images from Sancai tuihui together with information on Japan—included a substantially revised arhat section without poems. The names, numbers, and attributes of the arhats are inconsistent, thereby allowing each illustrated text publication to assert its own validity.

In Japan sculpted and painted sets of arhats were especially popular within the Zen tradition. The seventeenth-century Japanese audience for Jūhachi rakan zusan was likely made up of readers interested in China, poetry, Buddhism, and the acquisition of encyclopedic knowledge.

1. The proposed readings of the names listed are based on the unusual abbreviations found in Jūhachi rakan sanzu. For simplicity, Sanskrit diacritical marks have been omitted. See the related group listed in M. W. de Visser, The Arhats in China and Japan (Berlin: Oesterheld & Co., 1923), 115–16.

Selected Readings:

Takasaki Fujihiko. “Rakan zu.” Nihon no bijutsu 234 (November 1985). Dedicated issue.

Terashima Ryōan, ed. Wakan sansai zue. Reprint, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1985–91.

Visser, M. W. de. The Arhats in China and Japan. Berlin: Oesterheld & Co., 1923.

Wang Qi. Sancai tuhui. Vol. 2. Reprint, Taibei: Chengwen Chubanshe, 1970.

Copies in other collections:

Waseda University Library, Tokyo