The Rise of the “Ten Kings of Hell” on the Silk Road

In conjunction with the exhibition Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, the Cleveland Museum of Art is hosting a two-day international symposium, bringing together leading scholars to examine the origins, transmission, and transformation of the Ten Kings of Hell imagery along the Silk Road.

The symposium takes as its point of departure the historic reunification of the Packard Set: 10 hanging scrolls from the late 14th century depicting the Ten Kings of Hell, brought together for the first time since the 1960s. It expands outward to address the broader transregional networks of artistic exchange that carried this powerful eschatological tradition from Tang-dynasty China through the Korean peninsula and Japan.

Friday November 20, 2026 (10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.)    

Keynote Speeches

Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Japanese Art, Harvard University, USA

Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korean Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, USA 

Panel I

“The Ten Kings of Hell Paintings from the Song, Yuan, and Goryeo Dynasties: Current Perspectives on Transmitted Buddhist Painting Research in Japan”
Seinosuke Ide, Professor Emeritus of Art Studies at Kyushu University, Japan

“Why the Ten Kings Matter: The Space-Time and Structure of Reincarnation in East Asia”
Yamamoto Satomi, Professor, Waseda University, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Japan

“The Soul’s Journey: 4 x 7”
Eunkyung Park, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Archaeology, and Art History, Dona-A University, Korea

Discussant: Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University, USA

Saturday November 21, 2026 (10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.)

Panel II

“The Significance of the Ten Kings Paintings from the Former Packard Set in the Evolution of Ten Kings Paintings in East Asia”
Cheeyun Kwon, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Management and the School of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Korea

“Encountering Hell: Visuality and Function in Niche 20, Dafowan, Mount Baoding, Dazu”
Choonghyun Jo, Lecturer, Dankook University, Korea

“The Last Train Stop Along the Silk Road: Transformations of the Ten Kings of Hell in Medieval Japan”
Takagishi Akira, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Japan

“Study of the Early Joseon Ten Kings of Hell Painting Newly Acquired by the National Museum of Korea”
Younghee Kim, Curator, National Museum of Korea

Discussant: Seunghye Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Archaeology, and Art History, Dona-A University, Korea

Sponsors: Dunhuang Foundation and National Museum of Korea