muryou tera

Muryoji, a distinguished temple of the Rinzai Tofukuji school in Kushimoto, Wakayama, bears the mountain name Kinkozan. In 1707 it was swept away by the tsunami of the great Hoei earthquake. The temple was finally rebuilt in 1786 by the eighth abbot Gukai. To celebrate, the Edo master painter Maruyama Okyo donated twelve sliding-door paintings and sent his most gifted disciple, Nagasawa Rosetsu, to Kushimoto. Rosetsu spent nearly ten months there and produced around 270 works, including the celebrated Tiger and Dragon panels. In 1979 fifty-five of these paintings were designated National Important Cultural Properties; they are housed in the on-site Kushimoto Okyo-Rosetsu Museum.