The Japanese Jūroku Rakan and Buddhist Arhat Legend Tradition

Record summary

The sixteen arhats are semi-legendary Buddhist disciples whose names, biographies and visual forms developed through Indian, Chinese and Japanese transmission. Japanese paintings, temple records and ritual contexts preserve versions that are valuable for studying how authoritative figures are expanded beyond early canonical sources. The tradition also demonstrates the interaction of translated scripture, local miracle stories and image-based memory. Individual biographies should not automatically be attributed to the earliest Buddhist texts, since many derive from later Chinese and East Asian elaboration.