일본인의 지옥관 - 지옥 그림(地獄絵)의 문학적 수용과 의미 -

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify medieval Japanese views on hell by examining how jigokue (hell paintings) were received and represented in Japanese medieval literature. Focusing on the hell paintings of Chorakuji Temple, it compares Saigyō, who experienced these images firsthand and used them as poetic material, with Kenreimon-in, a literary figure to whom a symbolic hell experience is attributed. Through this comparison, the study investigates how visual imagery was transformed into literary and religious messages. In his waka sequence Upon Seeing Hell Paintings, Saigyō demonstrates that hell paintings function not merely as visual stimuli, but as literary mediators expressing awareness of karmic sin and a longing for salvation. In contrast, in the case of Kenreimon-in, the hell painting mentioned in Kankyō no Tomo is expanded in The Tale of the Heike, where it becomes a literary device. The narrative deliberately situates temples associated with hell imagery within her life story, aligning the tragic downfall of the Heike clan with the suffering of the Six Realms. Thus, hell paintings are not simply visual images but serve as textual reflections of contemporary beliefs about faith and salvation. They may be interpreted as complex cultural codes in which literature, religion, and visual art intersect.