Amitabha's descent from the Western Pure Land is illustrated in this late 13th-century painting. He is identified by the position of his hands, which are held in the gesture of teaching or appeasement (vitarkamudra). In East Asia, this gesture is used to depict Amitabha as he descends to earth to guide a deceased practitioner to rebirth in his pure land, Sukhavati, which is also sometimes known as the Western Pure Land.

Images of Amitabha's descent to earth illustrate the nineteenth of forty-eight vows made by this Buddha in a previous life, in which he promises to appear at the moment of death to all beings who devoutly desire rebirth in his Western Pure Land. These vows are listed in the Sukhavativyuha, one of the principal texts of the Pure Land tradition. Painted and sculpted versions of this theme, which are known as descent or raigo images, became popular in Japan during the 11th century and are known to have been placed before the deathbed of a devotee in order to help her or him concentrate on Amitabha and his promise.

In this painting, Amitabha stands on two lotuses atop a lotus pedestal. He is framed by a flame-shaped mandorla and a halo surrounds his head. His upper garment is green and has floral decoration made of cut gold leaf. His shawl is red and filled with cut-gold-leaf floral roundels filled with flowering tails.

This painting of Amitabha's descent illustrates the internationalism of Buddhist art in East Asia. It was once thought to be a Korean work because the roundels decorating Amitabha's shawl were common motifs on the garments of Buddhist divinities in Korean painting of the Koryo period (936-1392). However, similar roundels also occur in Chinese Buddhist painting from the 9th to 14th centuries, and they are also found in 13th- and 14th-century Japanese works. Amitabha's frontal position in this painting and the precise drafting of the delicate outlines indicate the work is by a Japanese rather than Korean artist.

It is likely that this painting was used individually or as part of a triad of images of the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta. Eleventh- and 12th-century representations of Amitabha's descent generally feature a Buddha with a large heavenly retinue. The development in the 13th century of simple descent images showing only Amitabha or Amitabha with two attendant bodhisattvas has been attributed to the prominence achieved by the Chinzei branch of the Pure Land sect founded by Shokobo Bencho (1163-1238), one of the chief disciples of Honen (1133-1212), the founder of the Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism. The doctrinal basis of this development can be traced to the Treatise of the Selected Recitations of the Buddha's Name of the Original Vow (Senchaku hongan nenbutsu shu), one of the most important works by Honen. In it he states that single raigo images of Amitabha, or those in which he is attended by only two bodhisattvas, were more efficient because they focused the devotee's attention more closely on the deity.