Japanese Buddhism is generally considered to be misogynist in nature. Scholars, who are familiar with paintings of the female body in nine aspects of decay, called kusozu, believe that these paintings represent the sexist nature of Buddhism. In an attempt to interpret the paintings within religious and cultural historical contexts, this paper examines a series of these paintings with respect to the legend of the ninth-century poet, Ono no Komachi，and Tendai thought on original enlightenment (hongaku).
