Section of the Dream Diary with a Sketch of Mountains

Myōe Kōben 明恵高弁

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The content of a dream is inscribed in a mixture of Chinese characters and Japanese phonetic syllables known as katakana, along with a sketchy depiction of three mountains. The dreamer records a meeting with two of his acquaintances, one of whom turned out to be a deity of the Kasuga Shrine in Nara. The dream was once part of a handscroll recounting all the dreams recollected by the Buddhist monk Myōe, a seminal figure in the revival of the teachings of the Flower Garland Sutra (Kegonkyō). Myōe was further renowned for his extraordinary predilection for seeing visions and for dreaming, which he dutifully recorded from the 1190s until his death in 1232. These writings are now collectively known as the Dream Record Yume no ki). The drawing of three mountains in the distance refers to the three peaks at Kasuga, while the hills in the foreground represent the forested hills of Myōe’s own domicile at Kōzanji temple.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art