The Ill-Fated Afterlife : Painting the Buddhist Cosmos in Premodern Japan

Visions of Buddhist hell transformed fear of death into ritual care and hope for salvationIn thirteenth-century Japan, death was fraught with spiritual uncertainty. Salvation depended on dying with perfect concentration on the Buddha—an ideal that was seemingly unattainable amid political upheaval, famine, and social instability. The Ill-Fated Afterlife uncovers a striking religious response to those anxieties: vivid paintings of the Buddhist underworld created to care for the dead. Centered on a monumental set of thirteenth-century Six Paths paintings preserved at Shojuraikoji temple, the study explores how images of hell functioned not merely as warnings about karmic punishment but as active ritual tools. Through careful analysis of their iconography, ritual use, and preservation, Miriam Chusid reveals how these paintings reshaped understandings of death, salvation, and the Buddhist cosmos in medieval Japan. Scenes of torment, judgment before King Enma, and miraculous liberation invited viewers to confront suffering while participating in practices intended to aid the deceased. Rather than reinforcing a purely retributive vision of the afterlife, these images opened pathways for compassion, merit transfer, and salvation—even for those believed to face the greatest spiritual obstacles, including women and sinners. Bringing together art history, ritual studies, and the material history of Buddhist objects, The Ill-Fated Afterlife demonstrates how powerful images transformed fear of the afterlife into a dynamic system of care for the living and the dead.