EDO OR MEIJI, 19TH CENTURYOf rectangular form and painted in ink and pigments, the heavy wood panel decorated with Ono no Takamura, Emma-O, and a queue of demonic figures behind them, the tall scholar dressed in long black garments, holding a shaku tablet before him and looking up towards the King of Hell, the Lord of the Underworld depicted with ornate robes embellished with patterns of seashells; framed and glazed, a paper label on the back explaining Ono no Takamura's story, 60.3cm x 46.5cm.The label reads: [...on thin wood panels illustrating the following legend: Ono no Takamura, a councillor of Saga, tenno (9th century A.D.) sentenced to exile in the Isles of Oki, took a certain holy monk with him to visit Yama the King of Hell, where he found Jizo among the damned in the lowest of the hot hells, undergoing torment to free some of the inmates and to mitigate the punishments of sinning mankind. Jizo besought the monk to describe his suffering so that the hearts of men should be turned to his worship. When the monk returned to earth, he carved a great figure of Jizo, which is still in the temple of Yata no Jizo at Koriyama near Nara.]