Extermination of Evil
set of five handing scrolls held at the Nara National Museum
Extermination of evil (辟邪絵, Hekija-E) is a set of five paintings depicting traditional Asian deities banishing evil. The paintings are collectively listed as a national treasure of Japan and held at the Nara national museum.
Overview
The paintings are thought to have been created during the 12th century, during the reign of Emperor Go-Shirakawa in the Heian period; they may have also been produced during the Kamakura period. The calligrapher is thought to be the same on the five scrolls as on the hell scroll and the demon of punishment, which were produced at roughly the same time. They are thought to have originally been a single handscroll, known as the "second edition of the Masuda family hell scroll", that was stored in the Rengeō-in Temple (now Sanjūsangen-dō). The paintings depict five benevolent deities in combat against evil, as represented by demons; the deities come from several cultures, including contemporary Japanese, Chinese, and Indian. They are thought to be associated with the hell transformation screens then used in Nara for repentance ceremonies at the end of each year, where the devout recited the names of the buddhas at Heijō Palace.
The paintings were designated National Treasures of Japan on 6 June 1985, with the accession number 1106. They are located at the Nara National Museum in Nara, Nara Prefecture.
Works
Tenkeisei
Tenkeisei (天刑星, literally meaning "the star [that metes out] heavenly punishment"), or the god of heavenly punishment, is a deity from the Chinese tradition of yin and yang.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Extermination of Evil” as set of five handing scrolls held at the Nara National Museum. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as set of five handing scrolls held at the Nara National Museum. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3007715. The first chronological checks are 1985 and 1106.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Extermination of Evil”, its source revision and the description used here.
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This entry incorporates text from “Extermination of Evil” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.