Japanese Gozan Monks and Hangzhou’s West Lake

Visualising Cultural Appropriation in Middle Period East Asia

Abstract

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Japanese monks traveled to Hangzhou and spent time around West Lake. At the time, Hangzhou was known for hosting five temples among the imperially recognised “Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries”. During their stay in Hangzhou, Japanese monks communicated with local monks and scholars, wrote poems, and observed the monasteries. Diagrams of the Five Mountains and Ten Temples, which details the temples’ architecture and furniture styles, was later referred to in constructing the Japanese Buddhist system. At the same time, these monks rendered their sightseeing experience in poems, circulating words about the lake’s scenic beauty. Place names around the lake frequently appeared in poetry gatherings, and more poems were composed for paintings about the lake. The lake became a cultural trope within and beyond the Gozan literature, featuring iconic place names, visual culture, and multilayered mobility in real and imagined dimensions. The example of West Lake in Gozan culture offers a case study for cultural appropriation and the role that landscape appreciation can play in this process. Locations were crucial in trans-cultural appropriations. Specific places serve as anchored loci for organising and systemising a developing body of cultural knowledge.

在十二、十三世紀，杭州的“五山十刹”吸引了眾多日本僧侶踏訪。這些僧侶不僅與杭州的文人墨客及寺內高僧交流切磋，還對寺廟的建築藝術和管理規制展開深入的考察。他們帶回日本的《五山十剎圖》詳細描繪了杭州寺廟的建築風格和內部裝飾，還配有讚美西湖美景的詩文。本文旨在探討在日本五山文化圈中，杭州西湖及其標誌性地名和視覺文化特徵如何被構建成一種獨特的文化意象。文章還將分析日本僧侶經由“百聞不如一見”的親身體驗，如何多維度地感受和融入這一文化意象。筆者認為，五山文化中的西湖可視為文化挪用和景觀審美的經典實例。作為文化傳遞的核心媒介，特定的景觀會逐步成為文化認知的焦點。與此同時，跨文化的交流與互鑒，也為山水意象注入情感深度，對地標性景觀意象的確立具有決定性影響。