COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1953.16
amicoid
CMA_.1953.16
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Paintings
oty
Paintings
Object Type
false
Creator Nationality:
Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese
crc
Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Dates/Places:
Japan
cdt
Japan
Creator Dates/Places
false
Creator Name-CRT:
Japan, Kamakura period
crt
Japan, Kamakura period
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
The Three Sacred Shrines at Kumano: Kumano Mandala
otn
The Three Sacred Shrines at Kumano: Kumano Mandala
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
c. 1300
oct
c. 1300
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1280
ocs
1280
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1320
oce
1320
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
omd
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Materials and Techniques
false
Dimensions:
Image: 134cm x 62cm, Overall: 217.2cm x 80cm
met
Image: 134cm x 62cm, Overall: 217.2cm x 80cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1953.16
ooa
1953.16
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
John L. Severance Fund
ooc
John L. Severance Fund
Credit Line
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Well before Buddhism arrived in Japan from Korea in the sixth century, the people of these islands already possessed a religious belief system. They envisioned everything in the natural world, including themselves, as beholding to higher powers or kami who resided in the local landscape. These animistic spirits dwelled in particularly beautiful, rugged areas often difficult of access but uncommonly powerful in their display of the forces of nature that shaped the land. The meeting of ocean and land, deep valley recesses, or tall peaks in remote mountain ranges where pure cold water flowed?such sites were recognized by the Japanese as extraordinary. They signaled the presence of a kami, and the recognition of that spirit through ritual, pilgrimage, and the building of monuments or imagery ensued. After the ninth century, increasingly elaborate visual aids were made to identify and explain the local deities, a response to Buddhist practices that were then gaining popularity quickly in Japan. Indeed the rapid acceptance and dynamic spread of Buddhism in Japan fostered Shinto's development, and the two faiths joined forces so that by the time this painting was done the two religions had reached an easy accommodation. Shinto kami were given counterparts in the Buddhist pantheon of deities, and both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temple compounds invariably included a building dedicated to the worship of the other faith. This painting provides a bird's-eye view of the Kumano shrine complex set deep in the mountains of the Kii peninsula south of Nara in Wakayama Prefecture. Nestled in these lush spring mountains near the sacred Nachi waterfall (upper right) are the three principal shrine compounds (actually several miles apart), to which pilgrims travel on foot or by boat on the nearby rivers. Groups of worshipers appear within these walled compounds, facing the individual shrines in which a hidden Shinto deity resides. Above the shrines, the anonymous painter has provided an image of that kami's Buddhist counterpart. Thus the entire painting becomes a map of this special landscape as well as a diagram (mandala) illustrating the religious significance of the shrine's various deities. In conception and in execution it stands as one of the finest surviving examplesof traditional Japanese-style painting in Shinto art. Known as yamato-e, this style featured colorful pigments, dramatic compositions, and indigenous rather than foreign (Chinese or Korean) subjects. M.R.C.
cxd
Well before Buddhism arrived in Japan from Korea in the sixth century, the people of these islands already possessed a religious belief system. They envisioned everything in the natural world, including themselves, as beholding to higher powers or kami who resided in the local landscape. These animistic spirits dwelled in particularly beautiful, rugged areas often difficult of access but uncommonly powerful in their display of the forces of nature that shaped the land. The meeting of ocean and land, deep valley recesses, or tall peaks in remote mountain ranges where pure cold water flowed?such sites were recognized by the Japanese as extraordinary. They signaled the presence of a kami, and the recognition of that spirit through ritual, pilgrimage, and the building of monuments or imagery ensued. After the ninth century, increasingly elaborate visual aids were made to identify and explain the local deities, a response to Buddhist practices that were then gaining popularity quickly in Japan. Indeed the rapid acceptance and dynamic spread of Buddhism in Japan fostered Shinto's development, and the two faiths joined forces so that by the time this painting was done the two religions had reached an easy accommodation. Shinto kami were given counterparts in the Buddhist pantheon of deities, and both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temple compounds invariably included a building dedicated to the worship of the other faith. This painting provides a bird's-eye view of the Kumano shrine complex set deep in the mountains of the Kii peninsula south of Nara in Wakayama Prefecture. Nestled in these lush spring mountains near the sacred Nachi waterfall (upper right) are the three principal shrine compounds (actually several miles apart), to which pilgrims travel on foot or by boat on the nearby rivers. Groups of worshipers appear within these walled compounds, facing the individual shrines in which a hidden Shinto deity resides. Above the shrines, the anonymous painter has provided an image of that kami's Buddhist counterpart. Thus the entire painting becomes a map of this special landscape as well as a diagram (mandala) illustrating the religious significance of the shrine's various deities. In conception and in execution it stands as one of the finest surviving examplesof traditional Japanese-style painting in Shinto art. Known as yamato-e, this style featured colorful pigments, dramatic compositions, and indigenous rather than foreign (Chinese or Korean) subjects. M.R.C.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1953.16.tif
ril
CMA_.1953.16.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false