The Art of Decomposition: The Kusozu Paintings of Japan

 

Trigger Warning: Graphic images of blood, pus and corpses.

If you are still here after reading the trigger warning then I assure you, you’ll find today’s blog quite interesting. A word of caution: please eat before reading this because this blog quite unappetizing.

Now that we have discussed the potential side-effects of this blog, let’s dive into today’s topic.

What is Kusozu?

The word Kusozu means ‘nine phase images’ and these images show the nine stages of the decomposition process. Buddhist monks contemplate on the decomposition of the corpse as a meditation process. This helps them understand the temporal nature of the body. Their contemplation on the corpses were expressed through poetry and paintings. These paintings are called ‘Kusozu’

The Kusozu typically shows the decomposition of a woman’s body rather than man’s body. Most of the Kusozu has women as it’s subject.

There is a reason behind this. Whenever the monks used to have any sensual thoughts or emotions, they would imagine or observe the decomposition of a beautiful woman’s body. This helps them understand the fleeting nature of beauty and they overcome their lust.

The objects of their imagination or observation – a woman’s corpse – would then be expressed in their poetry and paintings.

 

The Nine Stages of Decomposition in Poetry:

Here is a stanza from the Chinese poet Su Tongpo’s poem:

“The distension makes the newly deceased hard to identify;

After only seven days, mere vestiges of the [original] appearance remain.

The rosy face has turned dark and lost its elegance;

The raven hair, first withered, is now tangled with grass roots.

Six organs are putrefied and the corpse pushes out beyond the coffin;

The four limbs have hardened and lie on the deserted field.

The field is desolate, and no one is present;

The spirit has gone to the other world in solitude”

That wasn’t a very happy poem but it does get the message across: Even something as permanent as death has a process which involves change. This is why Su Tongpo often uses nature as a metaphor for the corpse. Nature is permanent but it also goes through a change.

 

The Nine Stages of Decay as Shown in Kusozu:

In the first phase, a beautiful courtesan is dying slowly. In this painting, she appears youthful and attractive.

In the second phase, the courtesan has died. Unlike the first painting, she is devoid of clothes, ornaments and make-up. She is in her natural state: nakedness. Ornaments and clothes are simply decorations we put on a plain naked body.

In the third phase, the body gets bloated. This is called 'distention' 'where the gas in the body causes it to bloat abnormally. This is the painting in which we see the first step of decomposition. The body of the courtesan becomes ugly.

In the fourth phase, the body ruptures. The skin starts breaking slowly. In this painting, we can see the severely bloated body with breaking skin. Blood is visible through these breaks.

In the fifth phase, blood and pus start leaking from the body. This process is called 'exudation'. The body has decomposed beyond recognition now.

In the sixth phase, 'putrefaction' of the body begins. During this process, the organs decompose and become liquified. We can see the exposed organs in this painting. The body is in a later stage of decomposition now.

In the seventh phase, animals scavenge the body. Whatever is left of it after putrefaction is consumed by them. 

In the eighth phase, 'Skeletonization' begins and all that is left is the skeleton of the body. Everything else was consumed. The skeleton is a far cry from the charming courtesan we saw earlier but they are the same person. 

In the ninth phase, even the skeleton gets reduced to nothing. A beautiful woman who once walked and charmed people has left behind nothing of herself. This is the nature of life Kusozu depicts. No matter what type of life we lead in the end, this is what awaits us. 

These paintings show how the attraction and lust towards beauty is shallow because beauty is impermanent. Eventually, every beauty will change into ugliness. The ugliness, in turn, will transform into nothing.