The Rockefeller Collection in Focus: Jizo Bosatsu Asia Society
Home Jizo and the Six Realms The Japanese Temple Complex Making a Buddhist Image Inside the Image
Jizo and the Six Realms Buddhism in Japan from the Sixth to the Thirteenth Century Recognizing Jizo
Zen'en (1197-1258)
Zen’en (1197–1258)
Jizo Bosatsu
Japan; Kamakura period (1185-1333), 1221–1226
Japanese cypress (hinoki) with cut gold leaf (kirikane) and pigment, inlaid crystal eyes (gyokugan); staff with metal attachments
H. 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm), excluding base
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of Asian Art
1979.202a-e
Buddhism originated in India about 500 B.C.E. From there, the religion was carried into Central, Southeast, and East Asia. Buddhism was officially introduced to the Japanese court in the mid-sixth century by an envoy from the Korean kingdom of Paekche, who brought sacred texts (sutras), a bronze image, and ritual implements to the Japanese ruler as part of a larger diplomatic mission. For the next several decades, a debate raged at court over whether or not to adopt the foreign religion. By the late sixth century, the pro-Buddhist faction had emerged victorious, and Buddhism was embraced by the Japanese aristocracy.

During the Nara period (710–794), six schools of Buddhism were active in the Japanese capital. In general, the doctrines and practices espoused by the six Nara schools demanded rigorous training and discipline and were accessible only to a small class of literate and dedicated followers. In the early ninth century, two schools of Esoteric Buddhism were introduced, and these were dominant among the elite through much of the Heian period (794–1185). Though the philosophies of these schools were complex, they offered magical incantations and rituals that appealed to the aristocracy and seemed to supply a quick solution for every worldly problem.

By the eleventh century, however,fearful anticipation of mappo—the Degenerate Age of the Law, an era when traditional means of salvation through a person’s own efforts were deemed ineffectual—took hold of Japan. In this atmosphere, the Japanese elite turned to faith in the compassionate Buddha Amida, whose blissful Pure Land offered a permanent escape from the suffering of this world. As the Heian period drew to a close, Amidist belief, along with faith in the salvational figure of Jizo, was spreading to the masses, setting the stage for the populist Buddhist movements of the Kamakura period (1185–1333).