国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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0327 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 327 ページ(カラー画像)

New!引用情報

doi: 10.20676/00000213
引用形式選択: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR読み取り結果

This and the third group still farther down comprises
only small grottoes, practically retaining no traces of
decoration and evidently inaccessible for long ages. The
stream here washes the very foot of the conglomerate cliff,
about 50 to 60 feet high in its lowest and most precipitous
step, and much of the friable rock-face once containing
approaches to the various cave chambers and passages
between them has fallen and crumbled away completely.
Of wooden galleries and stairs such as must once have
served in addition for communication, no trace has survived
here. It is probable that most of these small grottoes in
the northern groups served as quarters for monks rather
than as shrines.

In the southern and largest group, too, the caves are
disposed in so irregular a fashion as to preclude all idea
of systematic planning. The number of grottoes excavated
one above the other varies according to their respective
heights; and only for short distances, such as near the
Tao-shih's temple (Fig. 198) and between the two shrines
containing colossal seated Buddhas (Fig. 199), is it possible
to recognize something corresponding to regular rows or
stories. In front of many of the upper grottoes wooden
stairs and verandahs, dating from the time of the last
restoration, are visible, though generally far too decayed
for use. Elsewhere their position can still be made out
by the holes cut into the rock as supports for the rafters
(Fig. 159). The varying stages of decay shown by these
adjunct structures suggest that restoration has never
quite ceased. The different styles of decoration displayed
by the frescoes in parts of the same shrine as well as by
the stucco sculptures confirm this conclusion. In fact,
with so many grottoes left neglected and available for
fresh consecration by any pious donor who would pay for
their restoration, centuries are likely to have passed since
any new excavation.

A number of archaeological indications show that most
if not all the large cave-temples, usually situated on the
ground level, date back to T'ang times or even earlier.
There is strong reason to assume that the best work in
their decoration belongs to the same period, though even