Hell Scroll (Nara National Museum)


Hell Scroll is a scroll depicting seven out of the sixteen lesser hells presented in Kisekyō. Six of the paintings are accompanied by text, which all begin with the phrase "There is yet another hell", following a description of what the sinners depicted did to end up in this particular hell.
The seven hells depicted are:
  1. the Hell of Excrement
  2. the Hell of Measures
  3. the Hell of the Iron Mortar
  4. the Hell of the Flaming Rooster
  5. the Hell of the Black Sand Cloud
  6. the Hell of Pus and Blood
  7. the Hell of Foxes and Wolves
It is considered likely that the scroll corresponds to the Paintings of the Six Paths, commissioned by Emperor Goshirakawa in the 12th century. This handscroll was preserved in Daishō-in in Higashiokubo, Tokyo until the Meiji period, when it came into the hands of the Hara family of Kanagawa, later ending up in the possession of the Japanese government.

The whole scroll