Kasuga Shrine Mandala

Description

A golden path beginning at the bottom of this painting leads up to four red-and-white buildings to the left, then to a fifth building on the right. These are the five shrine halls of Kasuga Taisha in Nara. Above and beyond the buildings is a sacred mountain range––with Mount Mikasa at center, Mount Wakakusa in gold to the left, and the sun or moon rising up behind the mountains. Sacred deer appear here and there. Five figures representing the original Buddhist forms of the five kami of the shrine complex stand on clouds above the mountains.

Provenance

Private Collection, Japan (before 1978); (Tokyo Art Club auction, Tokyo, Japan, sold to Mr. Tajima of London Gallery); (London Gallery, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–2015); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2015–)

Kasuga Shrine Mandala

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early 1300s

Accession Number

2015.137

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk

Dimensions

Overall: 193.6 x 58.8 cm (76 1/4 x 23 1/8 in.); Painting only: 110 x 40.9 cm (43 5/16 x 16 1/8 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund