Kasuga Miya mandara｜Nara National Museum

Kasuga Miya mandara

Color on silk
H 132.3 W 72.1, Mounting: H 208.3 W 83.4
Kamakura period　13th century

H025905

H025905
2014/07/30

H025906
2014/07/30

H025907
2014/07/30

H025908
2014/07/30

J001768
2014/07/30

J001769
2014/07/30

J001770
2014/07/30

One encounters Kasuga Taisha Shrine from the west in this masterwork of great precision that offers a virtual pilgrimage to the shrine’s buildings and environs. Paintings like this one were used as the principal object of worship when offering reverence to the Kasuga deities. In the upper part of the painting, one sees the shrine buildings of both Kasuga Taisha Shrine and its neighboring Wakamiya Shrine, in addition to five deities appearing in their Buddhist forms.

KITAZAWA NatsukiEnglish by Mary Lewine
Buddhist Art Paradise: Jewels of the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2021.7, p.335, no.178.

Accession Number	1494-0
Category	Paintings
Bibliography	Splendors of court devotion : shrine treasures from Wakamiya and Kasuga Taisha in Nara : special exhibition : celebrating the cyclical rebuilding of Wakamiya Shrine. Nara National Museum, 2022.10, 163p. Buddhist Art Paradise: Jewels of the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2021.7, 354p. On-Matsuri and the sacred art of Kasuga. Nara National Museum, 2015.12. 80p. Splendors of court devotion : shrine treasures from Wakamiya and Kasuga Taisha in Nara : special exhibition : celebrating the cyclical rebuilding of Wakamiya Shrine.Nara National Museum, 2014.12, 80p. Children's Exhibition: Exploring Buddhist coloring. Nara National Museum, 2007, 46p. (Japanese)