Jigoku Zōshi 地獄草紙(Tales of the Buddhist Hells)

This is a Japanese scroll that illustrates the parts of hell that criminals and sinners experience in the afterlife as a consequence of their wrong deeds during life. The tales are based on the Buddhist idea of the six worlds where sentient beings reincarnate from, based on their karma.

This scroll  was made between the Heian and Kamakura period, shortly after Hiragana, a syllabary form of writing, was developed during the Heian period. The differences between hiragana (syllabary) writing and kanji (idiographic) writing are showcased in the way they are written. The hiragana writing, shown on the bottom right, are fluid and blend into each other. In the example, the characters ら and ふ (bottom 2 of 3) are written with a shared stroke that connects the two. There are many other examples of multiple hiragana glyphs blending into each other on the page. On the other hand, the kanji writing, shown on the bottom left, has much more of a rigid structure. While strokes within the kanji occasionally blend into each other, two separate kanji do not connect with each other, as with the case with all other kanji on the page shown. This scroll demonstrates the way hiragana was developed for faster, simpler, and easier writing with fewer strokes and more flexibility as opposed to kanji, which is more rigid and complex.