In a narrow sense, the term "Buddhist paintings" (butsuga) refers to mandalas and painted representations of Buddhist deities used as objects of worship, but in a wider sense it refers to all paintings that have some relationship to Buddhism. The production of Buddhist paintings began with the decoration, using colored paintings, of interior walls of halls at Buddhist temples. The mural paintings on the walls of the Horyuji Kondo, though partly damaged by fire in 1949, are a prime example. The earliest extant example of Buddhist painting in Japan is the depiction of one of the jataka tales on the wooden outside panels of the votive shrine known as the Tamamushi Shrine, which may be seen at the Horyuji. Classified by their major themes, Buddhist paintings include both Exoteric paintings (kengyoga) and Esoteric paintings (mikkyoga). The Exoteric works include, in addition to depictions of the Buddha preaching, depictions of the Buddha's previous lives (jataka tales) and other subjects having to do with the later spread of the Buddhist faith. Into this category also fall the paintings known as Amida raigozu, which show Amida Buddha welcoming new souls to the Pure Land Paradise and, in Zen tradition, portrait paintings of founders of temples or other well-known religious figures. Esoteric Buddhist works include various types of mandalas and paintings of supernatural beings used as main objects of concentration in religious practice.
In Japanese temples, which are traditionally made of wood, some Buddhist paintings appear on ceilings and wall panels, doors, and pillars. In addition, many works have taken the form of narrative handscrolls or paintings to be hung on walls and are executed on silk or paper. All these types of paintings have been used either as objects of devotion or as aids in the diffusion of Buddhist teachings. In the medieval age, there appeared a distinctive Japanese genre of painting called suijakuga, combining elements of Esoteric Buddhism and Shinto, and these also are part of Buddhist painting tradition.
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