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A JAPANESE-FOLK ART SCULPTURE AND'A TRADITTGNAL -_

AMIDA BUDDHA FROM THE SEATTLE
- ART MUSEUM ‘

Thesis for the. Degree of MA.. .'
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY . '
ANN SILVERNALEBDWDEN . “

.1968. "

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ABSTRACT

A JAPANESE FOLK ART SCULPTURE AND A TRADITIONAL
AMIDA BUDDHA FROM THE SEATTLE
ART MUSEUM

by Ann Silvernale Bowden

Two examples of Japanese sculpture from the Seattle
Art Museum were chosen for study in this paper. No
comparison is made between the two until the end of the
paper, at which time an evaluation is made of the effec—
tiveness of the two works as religious statements. The
first piece is a folk art sculpture believed to be 300
years old and of Christian origin. I have attempted to
explore what happened in Japan when Christianity came; to
find out what Japanese Christian sculpture was like, and
what happened to the icons when Christianity was eradi-
cated. In considering the possibility that the piece is
not Christian, I compared it with native Japanese works:
haniwa and Buddhist folk carvings. I have offered some
suggestions concerning the possible identity of the
sculpture within the Buddhist pantheon.

The second sculpture is an eighteenth century Amida
Buddha considered to be typical of such works by profes-
sional carvers in the Edo period. It is elegant, marvel-
ously refined, but curiously sterile. I have indicated
the relationship of this image to the Amida Nyorai carved

by J5ch5 in the eleventh century. Conditions that

Ann Silvernale Bowden

prevailed at the time of the carving of the Seattle Amida
are also considered. To determine how this icon evolved
from traditional sculpture that came before, I have
studied the works of the great periods of Japanese sculp-
ture. An attempt has been made to trace the reasons for
the decline in vitality in temple sculpture which occurred
after the fourteenth century.

To do this research, I used the resources available
at the Seattle Art Museum, the University of Washington,
and Michigan State University. In addition, correspond-
ence was sent to museums, temples and private collectors
in Japan. (At the time of this writing, all data from
this source has not yet been received.) I have had sev-
eral consultations with Dr. Sadayoshi Omoto of Michigan
State University, Dr. Glenn T. Webb of the University of
Washington, and have corresponded with Professor Hugo
Munsterberg.

After comparison of the folk-carving with images of
the Virgin Mary done by Japanese and Europeans of the
time, and by further comparison of it with sculptures in
' the native Japanese tradition, I have suggested that the
provincial work is not Christian. The evidence suggests
it is a Buddhist sculpture done in the manner of the best-
known provincial priest-carvers, Enku and Mokujiki.

It would appear that the Amida Buddha became trapped

in the cultural restrictions of its day, and because of

Ann Silvernale Bowden

this, reached the "end of the line” as a document of the

religious life of the Japanese people.

A JAPANESE FOLK ART SCULPTURE AND A TRADITIONAL
AMIDA BUDDHA FROM THE SEATTLE
ART MUSEUM

By

Ann Silvernale Bowden

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Art

1968

._
,

/T f
3"};

PREFACE

This paper tries to determine the inspiration for
and historical climate surrounding two Japanese sculptures
in the Seattle Art Museum. One work reflects the small
but vigorous provincial current in the broad stream of
Japanese sculpture, and the other typifies the main cur-
rent—~the traditional art of court and temple. Religion
and political history play a large part in this account
because the sculptors were caught up in their times as
well as influenced and restricted by ecclesiastic tra-
dition.

In order to do this study, many hours were spent in
the Seattle Art Museum. The staff was extremely helpful,
and I would like to especially thank the Registrar, Pauline
Adams, for leading me to resources that greatly assisted
my work. At the University of Washington, Dr. Glenn T.
Webb was an inspiring teacher of Japanese Art. He saw
the beginnings of this paper, and I am grateful for his
help. Through all of my graduate work, Dr. Sadayoshi
Omoto of Michigan State University, was a patient, en-
couraging guide. I deeply appreciate all he has done for

me.

11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE.
LIST OF PLATES

PART I. THE FOLK ART SCULPTURE
Description and Classification
Christianity in Japan
Christian Icons in Japan
Embassies to Rome
The Persecution
Disguised Icons
Iconography of Mingei
Comparison with Haniwa. . . .- . . . .
Relationship with Shinto
Buddhist Folk Sculptures

Considerations of Attribution

PART II. THE AMIDA BUDDHA
Description
The Pure Land Sect
Comparison with Work of J6ch5
Social and Economic Conditions in Edo Period
Earlier Japanese Buddhist Sculpture
The Decline of Vitality in Sculpture
Comparison with Mingei as Religious Work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

iii

Page
ii

iv

10
13
18
2O
22
2A
29
29
37

A5
45
48
52
56
6A
65
67

Plate

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

LIST OF PLATES

Folk Sculpture, Edo period (Courtesy of the
Seattle Art Museum). . . . .

Namban Screen (detail), Imperial Collection,
Edo period (from Nishimura, Namban Art,
plate 3) . . . . . . .

 

Folk Sculpture (details), Seattle Art Museum
(photos by C. E. Bowden) . . .

Haniwa: figure of a woman, Prehistoric
period (from Noma, Haniwa, plate 40)

a. Jizo Bosatsu, Edo period (from Munsterberg,

Folk Arts deapan, plate 86).

 

b. Shatoku Taishi by Mokujiki, Kotai- -31,
Muromachi period (from Mokujiki Chokokuten
Exhibition Catalogue) . . . .

 

 

a. Wooden Buddha Stakes by Enku, Edo period
b. Self-portrait by Enku
c. Kwannon by Enku

d. Kudara Kwannon, Horyfi-Ji, Asuka period
(from Kokka, No. 836) . . . . .

Kwannon by Enku, Coolidge Collection, Edo
period (from Munsterberg, Mingei: Folk
Arts, plate 55) . . . .

 

Seishi, Wisdom of Amida, Late Heian_period
(Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts).

Amida Buddha, Edo period (Courtesy of the
Seattle Art Museum). . . .

Amida Nyorai by J5ch6, BdeS-in, Late
Heian period (from Terry, Masterworks of
Japanese Art, plate 59) . . . .

 

Amida Buddha (details), Seattle Art Museum
(photos by C. E. Bowden) . . . .

iv

Page

1A

23

26

31

31

3A

3A
3A

3A

36

40

A6

A9

51

Plate Page

XII. Buddha, Early Heian period (Courtesy of
the Seattle Art Museum) . . . . . . 58

XIII. Apsaras, Late Heian period (Courtesy of
the Seattle Art Museum) . . . . . . 61

XIV. Seishi, Kamakura period (Courtesy of
Seattle Art Museum). . . . . . . 63

PART I

THE FOLK ART SCULPTURE

Description and Classification

 

There is something uniquely fresh and appealing in
the simplicity, the directness and the roughness of a piece
of folk art. Such a piece is the recently acquired (1956)
Japanese sculpture reputedly from the Sendai district in
Northern Honshu, in the Seattle Art Museum.

It is 28 inches tall, made from a single piece of
wood, flat backed as if intended to be an icon. The head
is slightly bent forward. The face is more sophisticated
than the rest of the figure, being smoother and more fin-
ished looking. The eyes and mouth are tiny incisions and
the nose is a flattened wedge. The ears are extremely
large, and the high peaked "cap" sits oddly on the head.

A bulky collar comes right under the chin. The shoulders
slope down to too-long arms which are bent in an attitude
of prayer. The truncated lower body ends in stubby feet
emerging from under the garment. The Japanese term for
provincial work such as this, is mingei, from the word gig,
meaning people or folk, and gel, meaning skills or arts.

Folk art is the unselfconscious and anonymous work
of unpolished country people, ”taking its strength from the
land and requiring neither sophistication nor even a high

degree of expertness in technique."1 The golden age of

 

lHugo Munsterberg, Mingei: Folk Arts of Old Japan
(New York: The Asia Society, 1965), p. 6.

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Japanese folk art arrived in the Edo period (1615 to 1868),
when peace and prosperity was established by the Tokugawa
Shogunate, and common people had some leisure for the first
time to devote to the making of articles of utility as well
as beauty. They may have drawn upon memories of works of
court and temple masters, but in addition endowed their
works with a fresh vigor and engaging naiveté that set it
apart from the arts of the courts, and perhaps even tran-
scended a mere imitation of such artists. Such mingei may
tell us more about a culture and a people than the works

of accomplished masters.

In the 1930's, two great scholars, Langdon Warner
and Soetsu Yanagi, began writing about the fresh, rough
beauty and true artistic genius to be found in the folk
arts of Japan. Museums and collectors began to discover
this beauty, and entire exhibitions, such as the one at
the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe (1958), and
the travelling exhibit of the Asia Society (1965), have
been devoted to this art.2

In 1960, the Seattle Art Museum exhibited its out-
standing Japanese art collection in commemoration of the
centennial of American-Japanese diplomatic relations. It

was the first time folk paintings, sculpture and crafts

 

2The Seattle Art Museum has been a leader among Amer-
ican institutions in the collection of Japanese mi ei
(Munsterberg, "Japanese Folk Art in the Seattle Ar? Museum",
Oriental Art, VIII Summer, 1962 , 69).

 

were included along with the highly sophisticated works of
professional masters.3
Six years later, a dealer in Japan sold the mingei,
the subject of this study, to the museum. The dealer stated
that the piece was unique, that it was Christian and prob—
ably three hundred years old.)4
The sculpture was featured in the 1967 Museum engage-
ment book, which stated: "This highly simplified interpre-
tation of the Virgin Mary is the product of a folk crafts-
man in Japan in the early 17th Century. It is 'Mingei'
or folk art and 'Namban' meaning foreign or barbarian in
its inspiration. It dates from close to 1600, for within
a very few decades thereafter the widespread Christianity
of the Jesuits was forbidden and the relics ordered de-
stroyed. Few of the figures called 'Maria' survive."
If this piece is Christian, we should try to find its

place in the years that Japan was exposed to the mis-

sionary activities of Portugal and later, Spain.

Christianity in Japan

 

Three Portuguese castaways were the first Westerners
to reach Japan. Their visit, in 1542, was brief, but their
enthusiastic account of the Japanese adventure brought

merchant ships into Kyushu harbors a year or two later.

 

3Richard Fuller Japanese Art in the Seattle Art
Museum (Seattle, 1960).

“Mrs. Pauline Adams, registrar, Seattle Art Museum,
private interview, April, 1968.

"From the point of view of the great Kyushu barons the ap-
pearance was opportune, for in addition to being intensely
curious about the Portuguese and their wares, they saw
foreign trade as a source of the wealth they needed to
maintain their military strength. The foreign merchants
thus arrived in Japan at the right place and at the right
time."5

When the Japanese saw that the Portuguese traders
treated missionaries with great respect, they accorded fa—
vorable treatment to them as well. The Jesuit missionary
Francis Xavier landed at Kagoshima in 1549 and was well
received by the lord of Satsuma. His was the first or-
ganized mission to Japan, and Xavier and his few colleagues
achieved some success in winning converts. He hoped to
see the "King of Japan" in Miyako (now Kyoto) but found
the shogun absent from the city and the emperor in retire-
ment. He did seek out influential people and established
good relations with a number of them. "It was the policy
of the Jesuits to seek the support of the ruling classes
wherever they went. They knew that in the long run they-
must depend upon the good will of the temporal power."6

When he returned to Goa, which was headquarters for

the Portuguese government of the Indies, Xavier reported

v—v

5George Sansom, A History of Japan,‘Vol. II: 1334-
l6lg6£8tanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1961),

p

6Ibid., p. 291.

that mission work in Japan should go well and spoke very
favorably of the Japanese people. He urged that mission-
aries be sent immediately, and good men were sent. Ten
years later there were twenty Jesuit fathers in Japan.

Father Gaspar Vilela was received by the Ashikaga
Shogun on whom he must have made a favorable impression,
for orders were issued that the missionaries be well
treated and allowed to preach freely and build churches
in the capital. Violence soon broke out in the city forc-
ing Vilela to move to Sakai for two years. Meanwhile,
Jealous Buddhist monks clamored for the expulsion of all
missionaries from the country, but the protection of the
Shogun prevailed.7

Luis Frois Joined Vilela in 1564. He was active in
Kyoto when Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were in power, and was
very successful in his conversions and relationships with
influential people. His letters provide highly reliable
evidence on events of the time.

Frois had a very favorable interview with Nobunaga
in 1569, and soon thereafter received a license to preach
in Japan. Nobunaga's favors to Christian missionaries
continued for the remaining thirteen years of his life.8
The growth of Christianity was remarkable under Nobunaga's
protection. No doubt he wished to ensure a continuous

foreign trade, but there was also more to his decision,

 

8

7Ibid., p. 292. Ibid., p. 294.

for he was a man of foresight who carefully balanced advan-
tages and objections before making up his mind to treat the
Jesuits well. He was surely influenced by the character of
the missionaries who were men of strong faith, good breeding
and great scholarship. But he also used Catholicism to
counteract the political strength of the powerful Buddhist
institutions.

The success the Jesuits had was remarkable, consid-
ering that there were but a handful in all of Japan. By
1582, it was estimated that there were 150,000 converts in
Japan, most of them in the western provinces. "Some of
these were devout, some had converted on orders from their
daimyo, others were fascinated by the new and bizarre, and
still others thought it wise to adopt the religion of the
Portuguese merchants who could make them rich."9

Large numbers of converted warriors were genuinely
inspired by strong faith and the need to believe in a
guardian deity. A few famous generals rode in the Korean
invasion some years later under Christian flags. Peasants
were attracted by the solace of "the Christian doctrine,
material help in the form of charitable gifts, medical

care in the Jesuit infirmaries, and a new status and feel-

ing of well-being in the little Christian schools and the

 

9Seiroku Noma, The Arts of Japan, Vol. II: Late
Medieval to Modern, edited by Glenn T. Webb (Tokyo:
Kodansha, 1967), p. 173.

 

 

churches where they attended Mass. That the faith of
these simple people was very deep-rooted is proved by their
steadfast behavior under persecution in a later period."10
Hideyoshi reacted to the Christians somewhat differ-
ently. He was not interested in religion personally, but
was friendly with the Jesuits, and enjoyed conversations
with them from time to time. He was most affable and en-
couraging with the Vice-Provincial Gaspar Coelho, and sug-
gested that Coelho might soon purchase for him two well-
armed Portuguese ships to aid him in his invasion of Korea.
Suddenly, in 1587, Hideyoshi did an abrupt about-face,
banned Christianity and ordered the Fathers to leave the
country in twenty days time. The reasons for this are as
uncertain as they are varied. Some Jesuits left the coun-
try, the rest went into hiding but with continued evange-
listic activity.11 In time it became apparent that Hideyo-
shi was too busy with governmental problems and his plans
of foreign invasion to think much about the Christians.
He seems to have been aware of their continued activity,
and to have tolerated individual freedom of belief, ob-
Jecting only to wholesale conversions at the insistence of

a daimyo.l2

 

loSansom, History of Japan, II, p. 298.

llIbid., p. 347.

12
edicts.

See p. 18 for an account of the enforced expulsion

10

Christian Icons in Japan

 

Religious relics that were brought into the country
by the missionaries to aid them in their work probably orig-
inated in Portugal and Antwerp where regular workshops
made paintings for export. At first, the European paint-
ings were concerned almost entirely with the Virgin and
Child, and the Virgin as Our Lady of Grace. The only ex-
ception was a picture of the Resurrection of Christ men-
tioned in a report to Rome in 1565. There was at least one
illuminated Bible, and a decorated Glossa Ordinaria in
Japan as early as 1551.13

Luis Frois mentions the first attempts of the Japa-
nese to make devotional objects for Christian use. When
he was stationed at Sakai in 1560, he had a Japanese Chris-
tian goldsmith make two retablos, one of the Nativity, and
the other of the Resurrection of Christ for a new chapel
he was building.14

It became readily apparent that along with the lan-
guage difficulties and problems in ideology, there was
some confusion of the Virgin with the Bodhisattva Kwannon,
often portrayed as the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. To avoid

this confusion, the first professional European artist to

work in Japan, Giovanni Niccolo, specialized in oil paint-

 

13J. E. McCall, "Early Jesuit Art in the Far East",
Artibus Asiae, X, (1947), p. 124.

luIbid., p. 124.

ll

ings of Jesus as Savior. With a picture of the Savior,

the missionary could explain Christian doctrine clearly,

and later introduce the Virgin and Child and other subjects
of Christian iconography. Niccolo established the Academy
of St. Luke in Arima in 1594, in order to teach young Japa-
nese artist-converts painting, engraving and possibly sculp-
ture.15

Pupils of Niccolo decorated the newly built Catholic
churches until activity was forced to stop. The Annual
Letters of various years mention specific paintings that
caught the visiting Bishop's eye. It was noted that
Jesuits could not tell which works were of European origin
and which were done by the Japanese. It was a curious fact
that the Japanese did not use the European technique in
creating original pictures, but confined their work almost
entirely to copying European paintings.

A European printing press arrived in Japan in 1590
and Niccolo was able to begin teaching the art of engrav-
ing.l6 In 1596 Bishop Martinez visited the seminary and
described the visit: "From the printing office [we] went
into the studio of the engravers. The work room of the
painters stirred up especial admiration. These were of
various age levels, and were very numerous. With palette

in hand they stood before the canvases and painted pictures

in oils. Over the entrance to their house hung a picture

 

16

151231” p. 130. Ibid., p. 131.

12

of the Virgin Mary after St. Luke which a young nineteen
year old Japanese had made in perfect form. [We] departed
highly satisfied with the artistic creativity of the young
Japanese of this place."17

"Very few examples of Christian sculpture have sur-
vived. What does exist falls into three categories: im-
ported European pieces, disguised Christian examples carved
by Japanese, and fumi-e, or foot-treading reliefs used to
extract confessions during the persecutions.

The few imported pieces are crucifixes, medals and

shrines, such as a relief of the Virgin and St. John in a
triple arched shrine case of sixteenth century Flemish

18

make. The camouflaged sculptures were usually Buddhist
in style with a hidden Christian symbol somewhere on or
inside the piece. A unique collection of such works is
owned by Mrs. Renzo Sawada in Oiso, near Kamakura.19 The
foot-treading reliefs were initially confiscated medals and
plaques of Japanese or imported origin, fitted into wooden
frames, and later were metal reliefs made especially for
the purpose. The subject matter of the reliefs was often

the Pieta or Virgin and Child. The practice was to force

every person, in areas where Christians were suspected of

 

17Ibid., p. 133.
18Ibid., pp. 298-299.

19A. Eisenstaedt, "Hidden Crosses", Life, XX (March
25. 1946). pp. 93-96.

13

hiding, to step on the Holy Image. To refuse to do so

meant torture and death. There was a Prayer of Contrition
given to the faithful by the Jesuits, to be said after
stepping on the reliefs, in order to save them from death.20
Most of the existing fumi-e show much sign of wear.

In the realm of secular art, a few Namban screens
were painted around the turn of the seventeenth century.
Namban means "southern barbarian" to the Japanese, since
the foreigners came in from southern waters into southern
ports. The subject of these screens was generally a Portu-
guese ship coming into port, being greeted by Portuguese
traders and Jesuits. Sometimes the screens showed Jesuits
and Portuguese walking in the busy, panoramic city scenes
which were popular at the time. The foreigners were a
great curiosity, and some Japanese began to wear Portuguese

clothing, carried rosaries and learned to say a word or

two in Portuguese.2

Embassies to Rome

 

Two embassies were sent to Rome, one in 1582 and
the other in 1615. These were the first diplomatic visits
by representatives of Japan with European countries. The

first envoy was sponsored by three important Christian

 

20Tei Nishimura, Namban Art (Tokyo: Kddansha, 1958),
English summary, p. 7.

21Basil Gray, "Western Influence in Japan", Oriental
Art, II, No. 4 (winter, 1956), p. 129.

 

 

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15

lords of Kyushu Island and comprised four well-born Japa-
nese youths who had brilliant success in Lisbon and Rome.
Eight years later they came back to Japan with gifts of
illustrated books, Gobelin tapestries and other art ob-
jects from Phillip II, ruler of Spain and Portugal, and
Pope Gregory XIII. The accompanying Jesuits "were also
honored by the POpe, who granted them a monopoly on evan-
gelism in Japan, as well as a handsome stipend."22
The sponsor of the second expedition was Date Masa-
mune, a powerful daimyo of the Sendai district. It is cu-
rious that he would send the embassy as late as 1615, when
the persecutions had begun in earnest. "There is no proof
that Date Masamune actually renounced the Buddhist faith.
His religious belief was no deeper than that of the mass
of his educated contemporaries . . . hence he was doubtless
unconscious of the inconsistency of expressing sympathy
with a foreign creed while doing his utmost to promote the
interests of the faith of his ancestors."23 He sent
flowery letters to the Pope expressing his interest in
Christianity. He, too, may have had an eye to building
trade relations. At the same time he was rebuilding at

great expense a Buddhist temple, the Zuigan-ji at Matsu-

 

22Noma, Arts of Japan, p. 173.

23G. Meriweather, "A Sketch of the Life of Date
Masamune and an Account of his Embassy to Rome," TASJ,
XXI (1893), p. 30. '

16

shima. The collection of Christian artifacts still housed
in this temple, was brought back from Rome~by his ambas-
sador, Hasekura Rokuemon.24

Earlier, Masamune was one of the last lords in the
north to hold out against Nobunaga. He capitulated after
a stern warning, and there was a measure of respect be-
tween the two men. He remained one of the few independ-
ent and uncommitted daimyos during Hideyoshi's tenure,
and was one of the defenders of Ieyasu at battles leading
up to Sekigahara in 1600. Perhaps for the reason of his
power and loyalty, the Christian artifacts in his great
temple were not disturbed during the anti-Christian
purges.

Several things bothered Hideyoshi about the Chris-
tians. They were charged with "encouraging daimyos to
force their people to give up their old religion; with
selling Japanese as slaves to China, Korea, and other
parts of Asia; with killing animals (horses and oxen)
for food; and with destroying Buddhist and Shinto build-
ings."25 It is true that Portuguese traders did buy
slaves, and the Jesuits and their converts did occasion-

ally smash Buddhist images and Buddhist shrines. But

 

24Christian activity in the Sendai district is impor-
tant to this study, as it is the reputed provenance of
the Seattle mingei.

25Sansom, History of Japan, 11, p. 347.

 

l7

Hideyoshi still admired the Jesuits as individuals and was
not too disposed to ruthlessly root them out. As a result
the number of Jesuits in Japan did not diminish but in-
creased after 1592. The report of the Society for the
years 1595-96 shows that there were more than one hundred
forty Fathers in Japan. "This was a remarkable situation
for Hideyoshi had licensed only ten priests in Nagasaki
for the spiritual needs of the Portuguese."26

The Pope had granted a monopoly of maritime trade
east of the Red Sea and as far as seventeen degrees east
of the Moluccas to the Portuguese. This meant that a
monopoly on trade carried with it a monopoly in Christian
missionary endeavor, since only missionaries approved by
the Portuguese could find passage on their ships. As a
result, for fifty years after the discovery of Japan by
the Portuguese, only Portuguese ships traded in Japanese
ports and only Jesuits preached in Japan.

This monopoly on Jesuit missionary work was bitterly
resented by members of other orders especially the Francis—
cans who were preaching in the Philippines. Spanish
traders in the Philippines also resented the Portuguese
hold on trade with Japan. At first by accident, and then
by design, Spanish sea captains began a tentative trade
in the port of Hirado. Hideyoshi sent a rash letter to

the Governor-General in Manila demanding tribute. In re—

 

26Ibid., p. 350.

18

turn the Spanish Governor sent two placating missions each
headed by Franciscans who offered to stay on in Japan as
"hostages" and preach. This they were allowed to do and
soon more Franciscans came. There was a flurry of activ-
ity, convents and churches were built even in Kyoto, the
capital. Naturally the Jesuits, ostensibly confined to
Nagasaki, were furious.27 The quarrels between the two

orders did not improve their position in Japan.

The Persecution

 

A crisis came late in 1596 when a Spanish ship broke
up on the coast of Tosa. The valuable cargo was confis-
cated, and the irate and intemperate pilot reputedly said
something to the effect that priests and traders were
forerunners of conquering expeditions. Hideyoshi suddenly
issued an order for the execution of seven Franciscans
and nineteen Japanese followers who were all in Kyoto.
They were first mutilated, then "led in a pitiful caval-
cade to city after city, to be shown as a warning to the
people. They reached Nagasaki [a month later] and there
were crucified upside down as common criminals."28 The
icy winds of persecution had begun to blow.

From 1596 on, foreigners and converts were perse-

cuted. The purges were sporadic until "the rule of the

 

27Ibid., p. 373.

281b1d., p. 374.

19

second Tokugawa shogun when there was a concentrated
effort to drive out all members of the foreign faith, now
entirely associated with imagined plots to make Japan a
colony of a Western nation."29 Religious relics were de-
stroyed, except those that were hidden away.

In the years from 1618 to 1621 a large number of Ja-
panese Christians were put to death. Fifty were executed
in 1619 alone, but European Christians were not killed un-
til 1622, the year referred to as the Great Martyrdom in
the mission reports. At that time, nine foreign priests
were killed along with forty—six Japanese Christians. By
1626 seven hundred fifty had met their death by execution.
Thousands more must have died from imprisonment or exile.3O

Boxer says, "a careful scrutiny of the primary
sources indicates that the vast majority of native Chris-
tians eventually apostatized, either under torture or the
threat thereof, in the course of the persecution."31 And
yet it is estimated that up to five thousand martyrs died
for the Faith between 1614 and 1643 and less than seventy
32

of these were Europeans.

 

29Noma, Arts of Japan, II, p. 173.

 

3OSansom, History of Japan, III: 1615-1867, p. 41.

310. R. Boxer, The Christian Century in Japan 1549-
1650 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967),

p. 360.
32Ibid., p. 358.

2O

Disguised Icons

 

Christianity in Japan was either eradicated or went
underground. Believers hid their Catholic artifacts, or
created new ones disguised as Buddhist icons. For two and
a half centuries these people lived with fear. When the
ban on Christianity was lifted and freedom of worship re-
stored in 1873, nearly half of the hidden Japanese Chris-
tians returned to the Catholic Church, but the other half
adhered to their old secret way of worship, as if the pro-
hibition was still in force.

To this day in Japan, there are about 30,000 "sep-
arated" believers scattered on some twenty islands off the
northwestern coast of Kyushu and also on the Nishisonoki
Peninsula on the Kyushu mainland, who refuse to be assim-
ilated into the contemporary Catholic Church. The prayers
and rituals they perform are so distorted by time and
deprivation from priestly guidance that they cannot recog-
nize themselves as part of the present-day Church. They
worship quaint disguised pictures and statues in secret
such as a painting of Christ in feudal Japanese costume
wearing a topknot, but with a cross and a dove in the back-
ground. They worship a sculpture of the Virgin carved to
look like Kwannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, wearing

k.33

a veil and with a tiny cross incised in the wooden bac

 

33"Persecuted Christians Still Worship in Secret",
Nippon Times, Sept. 1, 1955.

 

21

Mrs. Sawada's notable collection of disguised Christian
works has already been cited. On each of the works there
is some symbol, sometimes hidden inside a hollow carving,
to indicate its Christian intent.

The only category of Japanese Christian sculpture
the Seattle Art Museum mipgei falls into is that of dis-
guised Christian work. It obviously does not look like
a western Virgin Mary. The odd cap, or headdress seems
too strange. The medieval Japanese were extremely adept
at imitating European works. Admittedly the carver was
not workshop trained, but even a folk artist such as the
mingei carver should have been able to carve a veil or
some other obvious characteristic of the Virgin. Sty-
listically the mingei does not come close to any de-

34 In every painting

piction of the Virgin researched.
and carving of the Virgin, the Western viewer can see
some characteristic iconography. Thorough inspection of
the Seattle statue, however, fails to reveal any Chris-
tian marking or symbol, and would thus eliminate the
likelihood of its being a disguised work.

Professor Hugo Munsterberg in commenting about the
Seattle example, has written in reply to a letter en-

closing a photograph of the mingei, "most of the material

(Christian sculpture) survived in Kyushu and was made

 

34Nishimura, Namban Art; Eisenstaedt, "Hidden
Crosses"; McCall, "Early Jesuit Art."

 

22

either in imitation of a Western style or in the prevailing
Buddhist mode with sacred Christian symbols. I would
therefore very seriously doubt that this is a Virgin Mary.
If it is genuine, I believe it to be a praying Buddhist
figure in the ahjali mudra. However, in not personally
seeing it, I would be hesitant to accept it altogether as
an ancient work, and think it is further likely that it is

19th Century."35

Iconography of Mingei

 

Let us consider the possibility that the Seattle
miggei might not be Christian after all. The hands are
pressed together in an attitude of prayer. The Buddhist
afijali mudra is done this way. The smooth body could be
any type of robe. It is when we get to the collar that
we hesitate. Is this part finished? Could it be an at-
tempt at a necklace? An early Nara sculpture of Bon Ten
(Brahma) has a robe that rises around the neckline. Each
figure, in an extremely early (ca. 650) group of the Four
Deva Kings in the Kondo of the Horyu-ji has a smooth ruff-
36

type collar coming up around the chin. None of these
figures has hands pressed together, but all four are wear-
ing crowns. Perhaps the "cap" of the Seattle mingei is

really a band or crown around the head, and the hair, then,

shows above as well as below.

 

35Letter to writer, May 20, 1968.

36Tokyo National Museum, Pageant of Japanese Art, Vol.
3, ed. by Yutaka Tazawa (Tokyo: Toto Bunka Co., Ltd., 1952),
plate 9.

 

23

      
 

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The ears are extremely large like the traditional
Buddha, whose earlobes were distorted in his youth by the
weight of gold earrings, which indicated his royal origin.
Bodhisattvas also have elongated ears because they are
said to derive from the figure of Gautama (the historical
Buddha). They have attained enlightenment and are helping
enlighten others. They are usually graceful figures,
serving as attendants to Buddhas or objects of worship,
themselves.

Two strong impressions are made when the Seattle
work is viewed from a distance: the sculpture is tree-
1ike in its simplicity and columnar verticality; and it
possesses an unmistakable aura of spirituality. The piece
looks old, not only because of the cracks and lines in the
wood, but because it has an ancient quality, a timeless-
ness that makes us Want to look deeper into the past for
some clue to its origin or meaning. It may well have been
carved in the nineteenth century as Munsterberg suggests,
but there is a mysterious quality of agelessness about it
as if it has always had something to say to humanity--and

is still saying it.

Comparison with Haniwa

 

Maybe it seems old because it reminds us strongly of
something old, the haniwa figures of the second to sixth
centuries, A. D. These are sculptures made of clay cyl-

inders about half an inch thick, and usually twenty five

26

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27

let the heat escape during firing, but the noses in both
works are triangular wedges, and there is an exquisite
simplicity about the total effect of the faces that links
the two types of work together in a very fundamental way.
The hands are schematic slabs of wood in the one, of clay
in the other.

The facial expression of the folk carving is one of
quiet containment and pensive, inward reflection. Together
with the bend of the head and the praying hands, the ex-
pression gives it a strong religious feeling. One can
easily imagine a rustic setting and simple people commun-
ing with this statue. It touches the chords of humanity.

Recording the human condition in another way are
the haniwa figures. Many have extremely sprightly ex-
pressions. They smile, or frown with anger, or seem
ready to shout or speak. Others are consumed by grief,
or simply haughty or hollow-eyed with mournful mystery.
They are religious works in the sense that they surrounded
a religious precinct, but are not icons. What are they?

Several theories are advanced about their origin.
Legend has it that they were used as substitutes for
human sacrifice. Instead of hundreds of attendants going
to their deaths at the time of a royal burial, the clay
figurines were substituted. Another theory suggests that
the haniwa were intended to reproduce funeral processions
in a lasting form. The interesting variety of clothing,

armor and other details supports this idea. There is also

28

speculation that they may be influenced by Chinese tomb
sculptures, but the Japanese method of manufacture is
different and the effect is different in that it retains
its sense of the clay. The haniwa were arranged on burial
mounds, not placed on or in front of tombs as in China.39
The only other type of anthropomorphic sculpture
made in Japan before the time of the haniwa figures was
the "dogu", meaning "clay images", which were produced
around 3000 B. C. These probably had religious meaning,
for many resemble the earth goddesses of other primitive
cultures. These two sculptured types, then, are the only
truly native Japanese forms, for when Buddhism came on the
scene in the sixth century, it completely overwhelmed the
native tradition. Seiroku Noma said, "the race that had
"made the images, however, did not disappear, and the same
instinctive sense of form that haniwa reveal appears again
and again under different guises throughout the later his-
tory of Japanese art."u’O Perhaps the Seattle mingei is
just such a reappearance of this native tradition. If so,
it is not a revival of old forms of the past, but a contin-

uation, a quietly flowing, but separate, current in the

broad stream that is Japanese sculpture.

39Noma, "Haniwa, Protohistoric Sculpture", p. 5.
4O

Noma, Haniwa, p. 9.

29

Relationship with Shinto

 

An important element in this particular current of
art is its relationship with the religion that existed in
Japan before the onslaught of Buddhism. It was a religion
so nebulous and vague there was no name for it for hundreds
of years. It was a nature worship "of which the mainspring
is appreciation rather than fear . . . and much that is
kindly and gracious in the life of the Japanese today can
be traced to those sentiments which caused their remote
ancestors to ascribe divinity not only to the powerful and
awe-inspiring, such as the sun and the moon and the tempest,
or to the useful, such as the well and the cooking pot, but
also to the lovely and pleasant, such as the rocks and
streams, the trees and flowers."Lll

The work of the haniwa maker seems related to Shinto,
the "Way of the Gods," by the very nature of its vitality
and its feel for the clay. The folk artist, in the same
way, seems to sense the beauty of the object, be it stone

or wood, clay or cloth, and does not try to transform it

into something that it is not.

Buddhist Folk Sculptures

 

A folk carving from Sado Island, a small Jizo Bosatsu
illustrates this. It has the same columnar form as the

haniwa and the Seattle miggei. It looks like the stone

 

AllSansom, Japan, a Short Cultural History(New York:
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1943), p. 47.

 

30

from which it was carved. The body is reduced to a simple
cylinder, with hands, feet and robe barely more than in-
dentations in the rough surface. The Jizo Bosatsu is tra-
ditionally one of thirteen Buddhas of the Shingon Sect
whose special task is to safeguard the soul after death.
On Sado Island he is regarded as a patron saint of chil-
dren, and figures, such as this one, were made to be thrown
into the sea by women who wished to have children.

Even closer to our problem piece, the mingei, is
the work of two Buddhist priests, living a century apart.
Mokujiki became a priest in 1573 after having been a
soldier half his life. Apparently he "gave vent to a
dissatisfaction with the religion and art of [his] day
by traveling from place to place, carving statues inces-

"42 He carved

santly (andflin unusual ways) as [he] went.
rather squat figures draped in convoluted garments and
with delightfully pugnacious faces. There is nothing
quiet about his work. It throbs with a healthy muscular
roughness and vigorous personality. Many of Mokujiki's
works are now in the Yakushi-d6 at Tdchikubé.

The figure of "Shotoku-Taishi" from Kotai-ji shows
a much more robust and assertive person than the miggei.

But the wood is in a single block, and the hands are in

the same prayerful attitude. Mokujiki's work seems naive,

 

u2Noma, The Arts of Japan, 11, p. 216.

 

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32

but highly individualistic and unselfconscious. There is
more sophistication, more mystery, timidity and convention-
ality in the Seattle work.

The other provincial priest-carver was Enku (1628-95)
whose convictions led him to travel all over the country
for almost forty years. He even went to Ezo in Hokkaido,
which at that time was an extremely hazardous journey, and
the destination primitive. He visited shrines and sacred
places everywhere he went, leaving behind distinctive

' He is said to have carved over

wooden images of "gods.'
twelve thousand pieces, and ”all those still in existence
possess a sense of power and mystery that conventional
works of the time lack, and might be considered the anti-
thesis of the rococo forms at Nikko."u3 He was known
primarily as the carver of Buddha images, but also carved
many Bodhisattvas. A collection of his works is in the
temple Yakuo-in in Saitama.

Enku's manner of working was to use a hatchet and
cut the wood, usually hinoki (cypress) into a wedge shape
with one corner of the wedge forming the front of the fig-
ure. If a knot or knob was revealed in the wood, he would
employ it in the total design. He did not force the wood
to conform to a preconceived idea, but was sensitive to

the possibilities within the wood itself, and the beauty

‘in the grain of the wood.

 

u3Ibid., p. 87.

33

Many of his works look extremely unfinished. Some are
hardly more than rows of stakes with Buddha heads, shoved
in the ground, but he intended them to stand as they are.
He extracted the essence of the idea, and then moved on.
The overwhelming effect of much of his work is that of
powerful rough slashing strokes. Often the sides of the
garment are undercut to lift it in successively cascading
folds. In this technique there is striking similarity with
the traditional Yumedano Kwannon in the H6ryu-ji. There
is a head, said to be a self portrait, that is carved with
many little horizontal ridges in the manner of early Heian
works. Another work, slender and sinuous, curiously sophis-
ticated for all its schematic crudeness, can be compared
with the Kudara Kwannon in the H6ryu-ji. Both have the
same elongated, graceful body and calm, inward-directed
expression. Enku apparently admired traditional icons and
was emulating them in his own way.44

The smile on the faces of his sculptures is said to
reflect the happiness inherent in Buddhism. Enku was a
Buddhist priest, but probably prayed to Shinto deities as
well. This practice is common in Japan. His subject
matter is Buddhist, but there is something more to his
work. There is a strong native sensitivity to the qual-

ities of the medium, perhaps even a reverence for the wood.

 

uuSee plates, p.

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The Enku figure of "Kwannon" in the Asia Society

 

catalog shows some kinship with the Seattle folk carving.
The hands of both works are the same chopped off, finger-
less slab. Both figures are simple columnar shapes. The
Enku is much more slashed, powerful and vigorous. Its
cut-into robe and elaborate headdress is very different
from the calm, static figure of the miggei. Both carvings
possess an unmistakeable spiritual aura. For all the
Enku's raw vitality, the faces of the two figures have

the same expression of inward withdrawal and self-contain—
ment.

Sansom said, ”the power and prestige of a foreign
culture seem as if they would overwhelm and transform
Japan, but always there is a hard, non-absorbent core of
individual character, which resists and in its turn works
upon the invading influence."45 In this instance the
powerful foreign culture was Buddhism, which transformed
Japanese art. We may have at hand here a core of resis-
tors to that influence, in Mokujiki, and Enku, and the
carver of the Seattle miggei. The most resistant and the
one who "worked upon the invading influence" the most is
certainly the individualistic Mokujiki. Enku is seen to
have admired Buddhist works but only sometimes adhered
to traditional iconography, usually going his own way with

half-realized versions of traditional icons. The carver

 

uSSansom, Short Cultural History, p. 15.

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37

of the Seattle piece is the least resistant and closer to
the fine-art tradition than the others. But the carving
still retains a quality of simplicity, and freshness, and

sense of wood that court and temple art denies.

Considerations of Attribution

 

Since, as we have seen, the Seattle mingei is a step
closer to the traditional Buddhist style, we should make
an attempt to place it in the Buddhist pantheon. It
cannot be identified for certain. The iconographical evi—
dence is ambiguous and slight. We have a praying figure
with elongated ears, bent head and hands together, wearing
a bulky collar and a headdress that is very problematic for
all its simplicity. Being flat—backed, it is obviously
meant to be Viewed from the front.

The fingers are not carved in the sculpture. The
hands are merely a solid slab. The symbolic hand gesture
that it approximates is the anJali mudra which is called
kongo gassho in Japan, and is formed by "Joining the hands,
which are held vertically at the level of the breast, palm
against palm, fingers against fingers, interlocked at the
tips, the right thumb covering the left.”6 There are
several slight variations on the composition of this ges-

ture, but all have the same significance so can be consid-

ered the same. They are mudra of adoration.

 

46E. Dale Saunders, Mudra: A Study of Symbolic
Gestures in Japanese Buddhist Sculpture (New York: Pantheon
Books, 1960), p. 76.

 

38

"The kongo-gassho may derive from Hindu etiquette,

 

in which it is a gesture of offering, of adoration, and
of salutation . . . In Buddhism this gesture serves to
give homage to divinities accompanying offerings or
prayers, and reveals thereby the influence of the old
Hindu usage . . . The hands are joined under the mouth
in order to give homage to the Words emitted by it; hence
the gesture honors the Buddha and the Law.”47 The right
hand symbolizes the world of the Buddha, the left, the
world of Beings. The hands are two, but are Joined to
form one unit, parallel to that which exists between the
Buddha and Beings.

The kongo-gassho can never be represented on a
statue of the Buddha, because it is a gesture of adoration,
of giving honor to a superior state. "It is a gesture
which belongs rather to Bodhisattvas and to lesser person-
ages (Guardian Kings, holy men, etc.), who give homage
either to the Buddha or to the Doctrine.“48 It is to be
found on the multiple-armed Kwannon, but in Japan (as in
India) the two-armed Kwannon does not form the kongd-
gassho.

Kwannon)49 is the greatest and most famous of all

Bodhisattvas. His name denotes "the lord who looks down

 

47Ib1d., p. 77.
48Ibid., p. 79.

49Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit, and Kuan-yin in
Chinese.

39

"50 His basic

mercifully upon the suffering of the world.
form throughout Asia is that of a young prince wearing
costly clothing and Jewels. In addition, he takes on many
other guises in his readiness to help others. Theologi-
cally, Kwannon is male throughout Asia. In India he was
portrayed without overt male attributes, but with a lithe
softness and an angelic quality that easily led to his
later appearance (after A. D. 700) as a female divinity in
China and Japan. It was often a madonna-like quality,
even to his carrying a child in his arms, that led to the
confusion of Kwannon with the Virgin Mary. Since Kwannon
does not pose in an attitude of adoration, and that is our
dominant clue, we will have to eliminate him as a possi-
bility.

Amida Buddha often appears as the center of a triad,
flanked by Kwannon and Seishi. Seishi assumes several
different mudras, the principal one being that of adora-
tion, palms pressed together. He is one of the Thirteen
Buddhas of the Shingon Sect and as such safeguards the
soul for one year after death. A statue in the Detroit
Institute of Arts reputedly of Seishi, tenth century
(late Heian Period) shows the Bodhisattva seated,
which is unusual as he is generally shown standing. The

figure's hands are palm to palm. There is a crown-like

 

50Dietrich Seckel, The Art of Buddhism (New York:
Crown, 1963), p. 224.

 

40

 

PLATE VIII.

I

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f.Institute of Arts)

 

r-vr-I
P- .
Lia.

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41

band around the head surmounted by a hdkei or topknot of
hair. Could the band across the head of the Seattle sculp-
ture also be a crown? And could the high peak on the min-
g§i_be an approximation or beginning of a topknot? The
ears of both works are pendulous. The Seishi bears the
three classic neck rings, the sandg, which are Buddha at-
tributes carried over to Bodhisattva figures. Perhaps the
provincial carver considered the neck rings, but for some
reason was unable to carve them.

Two of the Ten Great Disciples of Buddha, Anaritsu
and Ananda are usually represented standing with head
shaven and a circular halo. Could the band be a provin-
cial carver's solution to a halo? The hands of the two

disciples are in the kongo-gassho mudra, as is the mingei.

 

Two sculptures, Gakko Butsu and Nikk5 Butsu, in the
Hokke-do of Tddai—Ji, Nara, are iconographically like
Bon Ten and Taishaku Ten and are regarded as masterpieces
of the late Nara period. They wear monk's robes and are
praying with hands together. Their hair is mounded up
by bands across the hair. Perhaps the carver of the
Seattle work was familiar with these figures.

In A. D. 532, the King of the Korean kingdom of
Paekche presented the Japanese emperor with a number of
Buddhist ritual objects including a statue of Shakyamuni.
There had been some cultural contact with the continent

before that, but this marked the beginning of real aware-

M2

ness on the part of the Japanese of the great philosophical
religion emanating from China through Korea. There was
violent opposition to the newfaith for a while due to pol-
itical reasons. Less than fifty years later Buddhism was
established more firmly in Japan than in China.

Prince Shotoku Taishi (Sage-Virtue) 574-622, is re-
garded as the real founder of Buddhism in Japan. He
acted as regent for his widoWed mother, and encouraged
the spread of the faith by official edict. "The chief
concern of Shotoku Taishi was to propagate the moral and
intellectual benefits of Buddhism, but he did not neglect
the outward aspects, the temples, pagodas, vestments and
ceremonies, which must constitute its first appeal to the
unenlightened."51 He wished not only to be worthy of Bud-
dha, but also to rule his country as a Bodhisattva.52
There are many statues of Prince Shotoku, many portraying
the konggrgassho mudra. In several, he is wearing a high
collared robe, such as the statue by Enkai in the E-den
53

of Horyu-Ji, Nara. There are countless other attendant
figures to be studied as possible solutions to the iden-
tity of the Seattle mingei.

The evidence seems to suggest that the Seattle gig:

gei is not Christian, that it is a provincial Buddhist

 

51Sansom, Short Cultural History, p. 71.

52Masaharu Anesaki, History of Japanese Reli ion
(Rutland, Vt. and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 9 ,

P- 59.
53Pageant of Japanese Art, plate 38.

 

43

work done in the manner of Mokujiki and Enku, and, like

them, the carver was probably a priest or monk.

PART II

THE AMIDA BUDDHA

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47

abstruse speculations of the Shingon and Tendai sects. The
attractive dogma of salvation by the mere repetition of
the formula "namu Amida Butsu" could not be combatted by
the older sects.2 As a result they sometimes incorporated
the new approach into their own teachings. It was thus a
non-intellectual form of Buddhism, which involved an atti-
tude of complete and enthusiastic devotion.

Buddhist temples began to reflect these new ideas
in their architecture and decoration, striving for as
much elegance and lightness as possible, to recreate the
Pure Land into which believers would be born. Anesaki
describes it: "Born in the Land of Purity, the pious
man is like a blind man who suddenly recovers his sight
and finds himself surrounded by radiant beams and bril-
liant Jewels of untold price . . . . Amida Buddha sits
on a lotus seat like a golden mountain in the midst of
all glories, surrounded by his saints."3 As well as re-
peating the name of Amida, "the idea of repetitive images,
the virtue of which lay in their mere multiplicity, was

one of the formal religious practices of the time."4

 

2Peter C. Swann, An Introduction to the Arts of
Japan (New York: Praeger, 1958), p. 68.

3

4Robert T. Paine and Alexander Soper, The Art and
Architecture of Japan (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1955),
p. 44.

Anesaki, Japanese Religion, p. 152.

 

 

MB

Many such sculptures, Buddhas sitting on a lotus,
had been carved for centuries in Japan. Is this par-
ticular sculpture, which is supposed to be typical of
the age, a fresh look at the subject? This question has
to be asked, even within the framework of the rigid re-
quirements set down for the Buddhist icon-maker. The
Buddha.image must perpetuate the posture of the his-
torical Buddha in "yoga". The posture, being immovable,
symbolizes the unassailability of Truth.

Comparison with Work of J5ch6

The Seattle Amida Buddha is lovely. It is elabo-
rately decorative. It is like a gilded doll. To analyze
it stylistically, we have to compare it with the Amida
Nyorai in the Phoenix Hall of the Byodo-in, Kyoto. This
sculpture is the late work of Jocho (d. 1057), and the
hall in which it is placed is an excellent example of a
temple embellished with the best of fine and decorative
arts to reproduce the Amida Paradise on earth.

Jocho came from a temple studio in Nara and con-
tinued to work a great deal in that city, even though his
workshop was in Kyoto. He was thus exposed to the early
Nara masterpieces. There was such a demand for temple
sculpture that a new technique was developed to facilitate
production. Instead of being carved from a single block
of wood, the statues now were made from a number of sepa—

rate pieces of carefully selected wood which were roughly

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50

carved and assembled by pupils, and finished by the mas-
ter.5 To do the fine carving of the face or hands for
example, the master could hold the piece in his hands,
turning it around, delicately shaping all the while. It
was a method that was conducive to sensitive carving. The
Amida Nyorai was made by this technique. It shows modifi-
cation from earlier types which were more massive and
'heavy, with stiff draperies. Here we see a figure that is
more human in scale, of elegant proportions. The face is
benevolent, the drapery flows in soft graceful curves.
There is a sense of calm stability about the figure. It
is substantial and impressive.

The eighteenth century Seattle Amida clearly follows
the type set down by Jdcho. The fundamental difference
between the two works (apart from size) is in the attitude
and resultant effect of the statue. In both, the hands
perform the mudra of meditation, the l§;in, The drapery
is practically identical, except in the Seattle piece it
is decorated in gold-leaf patterns of flowers and leaves
while the J6ch6 work is plain. The face of the eleventh
century Amida Nyorai is broader with fuller cheeks and
lips. The eyes of the Seattle work are almost closed.
There is no contact with the viewer. The more slender
face with its slim nose and tiny mouth, seems shut away

from the world. The Jéché work seems strong and full of

 

5Swann, Introduction, p. 68.

 

51

 

’(details),

 

Seattle Art Museum

Bowden)

 

  

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52

purpose. It makes a confrontation. The Seattle icon seems
soft and devoid of purpose. It withdraws. The lavish
halo, called "hiten-ko", surrounding the double circles
forming the body and head of the one, and the equally or-
nate pedestal of the other, serve as foils to set off the
basic simplicity and sense of calm of both seated Buddhas.
What came to be regarded for centuries as the ideal
of Buddhist sculpture, was the Buddhist figure on a lotus
throne carved by Jécho. "The style of Jocho . . . though
characterized by elegance of form, had a certain realism
and strength derived from the orthodox sculptural style
perfected in the Nara Period. His followers, however,
could not rival him. They simply copied the Jocho style.
Their art was a search for grace and delicacy more than
anything else, and as a result, it became conventionalized,

6

weak, and spiritless." How the marvelously refined and
elegant Amida in Seattle reached such a spiritless state
seven centuries after Jochd, can be answered by looking

at the conditions then prevailing in Japan.

Social and Economic Conditions in Edo Period

In 1615 Tokugawa Ieyasu succeeded in establishing
complete control of the country. He laid such a firm
foundation of feudal dictatorship, that his family main-

tained supreme control for the next two hundred and fifty

6Tazawa, Pageant of Japanese Art, III, p. 41.

53

years. The emperor was reduced to landless impotence.

The capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo), a
village situated in a swamp. Soon Edo became the economic
and cultural center of the country, as well as headquar-
ters for the government and military.

What was probably an agrarian uprising, but was
Joined by disaffected Samurai who had fought under Chris-
tian generals, brought about the most serious development
in the Edo period. In 1637 thirty thousand peasants seized
the castle at Shimabara and, waving Christian banners, held
it for some time against overwhelming government forces.
All but one hundredgand five of the rebels are said to
have been slaughtered. To prevent further uprisings and
possible foreign aggression, which Christianity seemed
to represent, Japan cut herself off from all contact with
the West. "The underlying reason was the determination
of the Tokugawa to secure internal peace and prosperity,
and to avoid any foreign entanglement likely to Jeopard-
ize those aims."7

Japan was sealed off. No sea-going ships could be
built. No Japanese could travel abroad, and if already
abroad could not return under penalty of death. A hand-
ful of Chinese and Dutch were allowed to remain in a re-
stricted area in Nagasaki, but no strong cultural influ-

ences came from them. A minimum of trade went on from the

 

7Sansom, History of Japan, III, p. 44.

 

54

harbor at Nagasaki only. The Dutch, Portuguese and Eng-
lish ships entering did not carry Western goods, only
articles from other ports of Asia. The country was turned
in upon itself.

Not only did Japan miss out on all the benefits
from the political and scientific achievements of the rest
of the world, but she also stopped her own economic ex-
pansion. "Her problem now was not how to obtain and uti-
lize wealth and wisdom from abroad, but how to conserve
and increase her own resources."8

The growth of the city of Edo led to the prolifer-
ation of new kinds of townsmen, people who produced goods
and services for the ruling and military class. Every-
body put the squeeze on the farmer who produced rice for
everyone but himself. As Sansom put it, "the peasants
were heavily oppressed by members of the knightly order,
who soon in their turn were exploited by the rising class
of merchants. Then, as the daimyo and the samurai at-
tempted to transfer their burden of debt to the already
overladen shoulders of the farmers, the agricultural econ-
omy broke down, and was replaced by a mercantile economy
which Japan [eventually] was unable to support without
calling upon the outside world."9 Money soon replaced
rice in business transactions. Abuses led to wild specu-
lation. No one knew how to manage the new phenomenon.

The merchants, on the whole, thrived.

 

8Sansom, A Short Cultural History, p. 455.

9Ibid., p. 466.

55

Merchants who flaunted their new wealth too osten-
tatiously sometimes had it confiscated by the Shogun.
Strict rules of behavior in every facet of life laid down
by the Shogunate resulted in intellectual stagnation, but
led to a burst of hedonistic activity by the bored popu-
lace. The Ukiyo or "Floating World" came into being, with
its many amusements for the townsman. The peasants con-
tinued to live a very hard life, while the life of the
townspeople was extremely dissolute.

The sterner Samurai preserved their dignity and
followed their traditional pursuits. It was they who pre-
served the conservative temple art when Edo was blossoming
out with the new colored prints. It can be seen that cre—
ative energy was expended in the realm of the Floating
World, while religious art was stagnating. Sansom said,
"As for Buddhism, it seems to vanish from the historical
scene in the Edo period, and there is no sign of any ac-
tivity in religious literature, or indeed of any cultural
contribution from the Church. Nobunaga and Hideyoshi
having broken its power, Ieyasu, by his legislation, had
ensured its impotence, and from his day we hear of no dis-
tinguished prelate and no great religious reformer
Although certain Buddhist conceptions had by now entered
deeply into the national consciousness and certain Buddhist

Observances had become part of every—day life, the Buddhist

56

Church as an institution seems to have been unsuited to
the temper of the times."10
It is with this in mind that we look back upon the
Amida Buddha. It surely reflects the superficiality of
the age, and the concern for lavish decoration. It also
looks a little tired. It sags a little. We have traced
some of the environmental influences that probably af-

fected its production. What was Japanese sculpture like

when the impulses from Buddhism were fresh?

Earlier Japanese Buddhist Sculpture

 

In describing these beginnings, Langdon Warner said:
"The powerful and gentle flood of Buddhism bore Japan
irresistibly along toward its full Far Eastern heritage
to Join China and India where, for all the differences,
Asia was One. The beneficient New Idea carried a simple
people from their primitive animist beliefs and practices
to broader deeps and amplitudes to find room for whatever
spirit and intellect man's nature might develop."11

In the Nara period, eighth century, Buddhist sculp—
tures were testaments to the terrifying or benign power
of the deities. The anonymous sculptors were able to in-

fuse a profoundly superhuman spirituality in their works,

which at this time were still carved from the single

 

lOlbid., p. 477.

11Japanese Sculpture of the Tempyo Period, edited
by James Marshall Plumer (Cambridge, Mass : Harvard
University Press, 1964), p. 36.

57

trunk, with only a few protuberances added on. There is
a solidity and power in the statues which is not found
in later periods. Sentimentality plays no part in these
works, rather, we see a great idealism and sincerity.
Strict canons of ecclesiastic tradition from the
very beginning of Buddhism in Japan set limits upon what
the sculptor could do with an icon, so the subtleties of
bulk, or lack of it, facial expression, and the decoration
of the accoutrements of the figure was what produced the
impact upon the viewer. James Marshall Plumer, in his
introduction to Warner's last book wrote: "The essential
forms and proportions of the sculptures, like the hier-
archies themselves, stemming originally from India, have
a tendency to be maintained for gods of higher order, and
to be progressively relaxed on descending to the lower.
Along with natural change in style, the Buddhas tend to re-
flect Chinese parallels, and the demons to spring from

"12 We would add to this that the

the earth of Japan.
demons, too, were Japanese versions of those of China.

Japan closed her doors to the outside world for the
first time in 894, and for the first time since the expo-
sure to the overwhelming culture of China, was able to
find her feet and stand alone.

In the first half of the ninth century, the central-

ized bureaucratic system of government was functioning

 

lE‘Ibidu p. 8.

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59

very effectively. Japan was internally on an even keel.
The important Shingon sect of Buddhism rose to ascendency.
It was proud of the synthesis it had made of all previous
creeds. In its temple workshops artists set the tone for
Heian sculpture which had gradually changed from the ide-
alism of Nara days. "Sculptured objects became more than
Just superior human beings, ennobled by deep belief or
softened by contemplation. Their effect on the spectator
was not intended to be overwhelming and awe-inspiring,
forms became heavy with symbolic meaningand divorced from
reality . . . [The intent was] to fascinate and subdue
the viewer."13
A standing ninth century Buddha in the Seattle Art
Museum epitomizes the sculptured characteristics of the
time. Here we see the use of the single block of wood.
The Joined-on pieces are missing. The drapery falls in
heavy graceful loops from the shoulders of the figure.
The treatment of the fat, sensuous face and body is
almost gross, yet the sense that this is a meaningful
icon is preserved by its mysterious remoteness. It is
like a tangible vision. Warner said, "these Oriental gods
are not like our merely superhuman classical ones
they are less definable, more abstract still, non-human

"14

rather than superhuman.

 

l3Swann, The Art of Japan (New York: Praeger, 1966),
P- 57-

1“The Craft of the Japanese Sculptor (New York:
McFarlane, Warde, McFarlane, 1936), p. 5.

 

60

By the tenth and eleventh centuries, the late Heian
period, the centralized government began to decline and
the ruling power passed into the hands of the Fujiwara
family. It was a time of frivolity, escapism and senti—
mentality. The statues for the temples began to reflect
softer, more feminine ideals and were more human in scale,
more elegant in proportions.15 There was a greater demand
for statuary. Sculpture was now hollow, and made of many
fitted pieces. It was the time in which Jéché carved his
Amida Nyorai.

An eleventh century carving in the Seattle Art Mu-
seum, one of a pair of Apsaras, the other being in the
Honolulu Academy of Arts, is an excellent example of the
delicacy and lightness achieved by carvers following
J5cho. Apsaras were Celestial Beings, nymphs of the sky
living in Amida's Paradise which was for those who had
escaped from the cycle of constant rebirth. These females
are shown floating on air with garments streaming around
them and the celestial scarf billowing over their heads.16
The Seattle sculpture came from the lower left margin of
a flame-like nimbus of a great Buddha now in the Rhode
Island School of Design, and the nymph's hands probably

carried a musical instrument such as a lute. Now we see

 

15Swann, Art of Japan, p. 69.

16Will H. Edmunds, Pointers and Clues to the Subjects
of Chinese and Japanese Art (London: Sampson Low, Marston
and Co., 1934), p. 224.

 

 

61

 

 

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62

more naturalism and movement in the figure. It's quite
human. Only the face is still that of a heavenly being.
There's a remoteness and delicacy in its expression that
further enhances the sculpture's transitory aspect. The
whole carving truly seems lighter than the air Apsaras are
supposed to inhabit. The billowing scarves create an ex-
tremely decorative pattern. This type of sculpture fit

in perfectly with the requirements of the Court-motivated
aristocratic culture of the time.

Great civil wars swept Japan in the twelfth century.
Military dictators now ruled the country, and the capital
was moved from the courtly Kyoto to Kamakura. "Buddhism
was no longer under state patronage, as it had been in
the Nara period, nor was it dominated by the interests of
the nobility, as in the Heian age. The extension of Bud-
dhism to the masses has left its permanent impression on

"17 The wars had

the national character of the people.
destroyed many temples. In the rebuilding, the need for
new religious icons was great. By extreme good fortune
Jécho's family produced sculptors of genius, the best of
whom was Unkei. Since many statues had to be provided
quickly, the artists worked cooperatively. They achieved
a new strength and realism in their work that had not
been seen before. Kamakura artists were looking backward

to Nara times, but infused their carvings with a mundane

directness that had popular appeal.

 

17Paine and Soper, p. 53.

63

PLATE XIV. Seishi, Kamakura period (Courtesy of the
Seattle Art Museum) . ‘ ’ '

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64

A figure of Seishi performing the mudra of adoration,
dating from the fourteenth century, is in the Seattle Art
Museum. It is very similar to a Sho Kwannon by Jokei18
(1226). Here we see an animated attentive figure with a
slender body and very human, responsive face. Its sweet
expression places it in the fourteenth century, rather
than earlier. The garments look quite natural in the way

they ripple and fall. The Bodhisattva seems about to move.

This is typical of the Kamakura ideal.

The Decline of Vitality in Sculpture

In describing the Kamakura Buddha type, Robert Paine
said; "Vast and imperturbable, yet downward looking and
compassionate, the Buddha sums up the qualities which the
age expected to find . . . . The conventionality of the
pose and the regularity of the handling of the robes may
reflect a formalizing tendency which was beginning to af-
fect the arts."19

Common people flocked to Buddhism at this time.
Until peace was brought about and the country unified in
1615, constant wars and deprivations swept the country.
Amida Buddha especially appealed with his easy path to
salvation. The repetition of the conventions of the sect,

both by believers and sculptors, led to more formalities

18Ibid., plate 48 A.

19Ibid., p. 56.

65

being observed. A Tokugawa edict required that every
household have a Buddha image. Humanity crept out of the
face and form of the Buddha and out of the act of worship.
The period of vitality was over.

Just as one can imagine a peasant worshipper de-
voutly kneeling before the mingei piece, we can also see
the Amida Buddha in a temple setting. Its gilded wood has
been darkened by incense smoke. It's difficult to imagine
it overwhelming or involving the worshipper. It is cer—
tainly a marvelously refined image, displaying the highest
technical skill. "Yet in the manner of most commissioned
religious sculpture the world over, when production de-
mands are large, and iconography fairly rigid, the work

becomes routine and stereotyped.

Comparison with Mingei as Religious Work

Perhaps, after all, if we look for a statement of
true Japanese religious life of the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, we might have to decide in favor of the
simple miggei piece. Where the Buddha seems sterile and
stereotyped as an expression of religious carving and
feeling, the provincial sculpture breathes of the Japa-
nese countryside and a devout faith. With its feel for
the medium, the piece of wood, and in its appeal to simple
religious response, the mingei work appears to belong to
a stream of native Japanese sculpture that remains small,

but vigorously alive. Langdon Warner said, "folk art is

66

indispensable if we would know the genius of a people.

For it is certain that neither precious materials nor
embellishment add much to our knowledge of the craftsman's
accomplishment. Frequently these serve actually to ob-
literate evidence of his more direct instinctive impulse

and of his traditional methods."20

 

 

20Tempyo Period, p. 5.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

57

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7O

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