was produced in large numbers during the Kamakura period (1185–1333), mainly for proselytizing or didactic purposes. The is nowadays the oldest example of with religious themes that devote a large part of their content to the representation of everyday life and folklore, testifying to an unprecedented interest in painting for children and popular legends. Such interest, however, already existed among the Japanese nobility from at least the end of the 11th century, as evidenced by the literature of the Imperial Court. Indeed, several ancient collections of popular tales, including the , the and the , tell three anecdotes, reminiscent of the subject of the , about a hermit-monk from the Nara period. The surviving texts of the second and third scrolls are very similar to the , suggesting that the author relied mainly on that collection. The mixture of popular and religious themes in the and many later , which give them an authentic and romanticised look, thus ties in with these earlier works. The life of (who died circa 937–941) is also recorded in a short autobiography dated 937 and several subsequent historical chronicles. These sources relate that he lived for a dozen years on Mount Shigi where a small chapel dedicated to was installed. Several companions joined him, giving growing importance. According to other fictionalised chronicles, would have been instructed in a dream during a retreat at the temple to go to Mount Shigi to settle there, with a purple cloud to guide him. Description Overview The is made up of three paper scrolls in a horizontal format. On each scroll, calligraphic texts accompany illustrations that have been painted, by hand, using watercolour-like techniques associated with the application of strokes in India ink. The scrolls measure respectively: high by long; high by long; and high by long. Each scroll is assembled from several sheets of paper of similar lengths - approximately long - glued one after the other: 16 sheets for the first scroll, 24 for the second and 26 for the third. First scroll The first scroll, commonly titled "The Flying Granary", consists of a single long painted section, the calligraphic text having disappeared. It narrates the anecdote known as the "flying granary". used to send his bowl by air every day to the nearby village, where a wealthy farmer filled it with rice. One day, however, the farmer refused to take on this task and punished