Editors’ Introduction: Engi, Forging Accounts of Sacred Origins

Abstract

Engi may be defined in a narrow sense as accounts of the origins of religious institutions, but over the course of their long history, they developed into a capa- cious, porous category that not only contrasted but also overlapped with other textual and visual types, such as property registers (ruki shizaichō 流記資財帳) or illustrated biographies (eden 絵伝). In formal terms, engi in general and jisha engi in particular vary significantly. Some are paintings, while others are unillustrated texts. Although they tend strongly toward narrative forms of representation, they also embrace ritual instructions, lists of various kinds, or other components that, taken individually, are very unlike engi in the narrow sense.