The materiality of a promise: Interworldly contracts in medieval buddhist promotional campaign imagery

Narratives in the fourteenth-century didactic paintings Shidoji engi e and Yūzū nenbutsu engi preach that supernatural entities are actively involved in Buddhist devotional projects. Vows and other commitments to engage in nenbutsu practice, or to restore a temple, initiate exchanges with the heavens and the netherworld that support their fulfillment. Interworldly networks thereby convey to audiences the rewards of participation in a promotional or fundraising campaign and back that up with the threat of hell. Both image contexts portray documents as a medium for transcending worlds, emphasizing writing in ways that empower campaign documents.