Matsuzawa Yutaka's Early Mandalas: 1-to-9, 9-to-1, and 1-through-9

Abstract

This article explores the ritual system of Matsuzawa Yutaka’s early mandalas. Adapted from the nine-panel Diamond Realm mandala format of Esoteric Buddhism, Matsuzawa’s mandala system poses two opposite space-time paths: one radiating clockwise from the centre (from 1 to 9), and the other revolving anticlockwise to the centre (from 9 to 1). A third space-time experience from both the beginning and end could also be achieved by seeing 1 through 9 simultaneously. While Matsuzawa’s art draws from a wide range of historic thought including science, theology, and parapsychology, this article focuses on its connections to the traditions arising from the Lake Suwa area of Nagano, Japan. It begins with Matsuzawa’s gohei mandalas from the late 1950s in which he incorporated forms derived from Shinto ritual objects into the nine-panel mandala format. It then discusses the artist’s experimentations in the early 1960s that culminated in his three-dimensional mandalas known as the Psi Chamber and Psi Altar, stressing the importance of the accompanying writings and diagrams provided in his first text-based work, On “Meaning of Psi” and “Psi Chamber” from 1961. This article concludes by examining Matsuzawa’s 1973 account of his transcendental engagement, facilitated by his activated Psi Chamber mandala system, with the Shinto festival known as the Onbashira Matsuri associated with the Suwa Taisha near his home.