Koyasan: Senju's Works of Art 1,200 Years After Kūkai

Size: 40.5 x 48 cm/145 pages/English

This book is an art book dedicated to the Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju and Kukai, who is regarded as the founder of the Shingon sect, and focuses on Kongobuji Temple, which Kukai built on Koyasan.

To commemorate the 1,200th anniversary of Kukai's founding, Koyasan Kongobu-ji Temple invited Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju to create two wall paintings. These two works, which depict waterfalls and cliffs, are based on the motifs of nature where Kukai composed a song as a monk and spent time training. These two murals are placed in a room where a monk performs a ceremony when he enters the mountain, and it is a monumental work that reminds me of Kukai and his aspirations.

In this work, which praises the beauty that unfolds over Mount Koya, with Koyasan Kongobuji Temple as the lead role, the story from Kukai's birth at Koyasan until he came to Koyasan is told by the chief priest at the beginning. The story of Kukai's arrival at Koyasan is recorded, such as quotes from Kukai's poems, works by Senju stored in Koyasan, and Buddha statues and crafts that are national treasures in Koyasan. Also, the appearance of modern monks who enshrine Kukai and sentences spelled out by Hiroshi Senju about his connection with Kukai and the path of painting production are also published