Storytelling with pictures
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This is one of many different formats of picture books for the illiterate adults that developed in Japan during late imperial history:
Early 20th-century Buddhist rebus-style text from Japan. Although labeled by the British Library as a Heart Sūtra for the illiterate, the Library of Congress identifies it as the “Hymn of Praise to Kannon for the Illiterate” (Kannon mekura wasan). (Source)
It comes from a fascinating article by Hunter Dukes in The Public Domain Review (1/12/22).
This type of Buddhist-inspired illustrated literature fits right in with the long-term research project I carried out on biànwén 變文 ("transformation texts") and biànxiàng 變相 ("transformation tableaux" — WP [Chinese], WP [Japanese]), which date back more than a millennium to Dunhuang in the Tang period, and on Japanese etoki 絵解 ("picture explanation") from around the same period.
In the late 70s, when I was deeply involved in studies on bianwen, bianxiang, and etoki, the leading scholar on the latter genre was Barbara Ruch, and it was she who enticed me to leave Harvard and come to Penn, for which I am eternally grateful. As I have mentioned in several earlier Language Log posts and elsewhere, the popular performers of illustrated narratives on the byways and highways of medieval China, Japan, and Tibet were often women, although men (monks) were known to deliver them in more formal settings (e.g., temples).
Selected readings
- Ryu Takai, “A Study of Dunhuang Manuscript S.2614V, Mahāmaudgalyāyana Rescuing His Mother from the Underworld: Revisions and Textual Transmission”, Sino-Platonic Papers, 378 (January, 2026), 1-19.
- "A Dunhuang transformation text minutely examined and revised" (1/4/26)
- Ryu Takai, "A Study of Li Yuan’s 'Zhuanbian Ren'”, Sino-Platonic Papers, 299 (October, 2019), 1-18.
- "The verbal and visual in traditional prosimetric literature" (4/19/23)
- "Texts and Transformations" (4/3/18)
- Victor H. Mair, "On 'Transformationists' (bianjia) and 'Jumbled Transformations' (laza bian): Two New Sources for the Study of 'Transformation Texts' (bianwen): With an Appendix on the Phonotactics of the Sinographic Script and the Reconstruction of Old Sinitic." (free pdf) 70 pages
- Monographs by VHM, for picture recitation, see especially the second one, which amounts to a global history of picture storytelling):
- Tun-huang Popular Narratives (Cambridge University Press, 1983)
- Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis (University of Hawai'i Press, 1989)
- T'ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China (Harvard University Asia Center, 1989)
- Tun-huang Popular Narratives (Cambridge University Press, 1983)
[Thanks to Hiroshi Kumamoto]
Jonathan Silk said,
January 28, 2026 @ 3:26 pm
I'm afraid that I must disagree with Victor's characterization here.
The mekura-kyō 盲経 “blind [=illiterate] sūtras,” are rebus-like aides-mémoire. The article to which you link cites Charlotte Eubanks saying, “Villagers, decoding these pictures and pronouncing them aloud in their local dialect would thus produce sounds similar to those pronounced by educated clerics”.
I think this is misleading. There was surely no decoding going on. The form these documents take is usually, or in any event often, not only that of pictures, but text with Chinese and hiragana. The point, I believe, is that those reciting know the text by heart. The text serves the same function, in a sense, as the score resting on the piano of a recital pianists; it is there in case of some lapse of memory, but is not read from as such.
A very important study, which Prof Kumamoto surely knows, is Watanabe Shōgo 渡辺章悟. 2012. _Etoki Hannya shingyō―Hannya shingyō no bunkateki kenkyū_ 絵解き般若心経–般若心経の文化的研究 [The Heart Sūtra in pictures: A cultural study of the Heart Sūtra]. Tokyo: Nonburusha ノンブル社.
The putative connection to illustrated sermons or tale literature is not clear to me, and if Victor believes this to be the case, some evidence and reasoning is called for. To my mind, the genres are entirely different, as is the usage.
Texts were written in kanji, and many times require a knowledge for recitation not only of the characters in the first place but of non-standard Buddhist readings. But if one can read hiragana (which was to my knowledge preferred to katakana in such cases), this suffices, and as I said, the point is only to remind, not to facilitate decipherment.
Carlana said,
January 28, 2026 @ 6:47 pm
The kana ん [n] is very clearly visible in the sample.
Lucas Christopoulos said,
January 28, 2026 @ 10:00 pm
Hello Victor, the tenugui (手拭い) I have attached to my head is exactly the same one shown in the manuscript rebus of the Heart Sutra you posted on Language log. I have about five of them, which I bought at Tennoji Temple.
I have these for good luck.
Philip Taylor said,
January 29, 2026 @ 5:33 am
At firsts sight I thought that you were scything in that photograph, Locas, but could not see a scythe. On enhancing the image, I now very much suspect that you are handling a potentially dangerous snake — can you confirm or otherwise, please ?
Lucas Christopoulos said,
January 29, 2026 @ 8:04 am
It is a venomous snake called Protobothrops flavoviridis, or Habu (波布) in Japanese.
Philip Taylor said,
January 29, 2026 @ 9:04 am
Not only venomous, but truly beautiful, Lucas (with sincere apologies for the earlier misspelling) — see https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMJ0yjLsvk7/
Victor Mair said,
January 29, 2026 @ 9:10 am
Lucas is the living embodiment of a mythical Greek warrior-wrestler.
Philip Taylor said,
January 29, 2026 @ 9:26 am
Having sorted out the scythe / snake, I am now searching for the 手拭い — can you give its co-ordinates, please Lucas (I believe the illustration has 10 rows of 20 columns) ?
John Rohsenow said,
January 29, 2026 @ 3:52 pm
"aide memoire"?
Victor Mair said,
January 30, 2026 @ 12:34 am
Here is a close-up of the tenugui 手拭い ("hand towel") worn by Lucas Christopoulos in the photo accompanying his comment. According to Wiktionary, the tenugui てぬぐい) is a traditional, thin Japanese cotton hand towel or cloth, typically measuring about 35 by 90 cm, used as a washcloth, headband, or for decoration. It features unfinished ends to allow for quick drying and, according to Wiktionary, acts as a versatile bandana, handkerchief, or towel.