The Rockefeller Collection in Focus: Jizo Bosatsu Asia Society
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Making a Buddhist Image Zen’en’s Style and Sculpture of the Kamakura Period
Kasuga Shrine Mandala
Zen’en (1197–1258)
Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu
Japan; Kamakura period (1185–1333), 1221
Japanese cypress (hinoki) with cut gold leaf (kirikane) and pigment, inlaid crystal eyes (gyokugan); later application of gold leaf over lacquer (shippaku)
H. 18 1/3 in. (46.6 cm), excluding base
Nara National Museum
When Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century, the king of Paekche (on the Korean peninsula) sent a gilt-bronze sculpture of the historical Buddha along with scriptures and other goods. A highly visual culture surrounded Japanese Buddhism from the start, and the large temples erected in the capital region from the seventh century onward grew to house hundreds of images in their myriad halls. The production of these images was a major undertaking requiring sculptors, painters, apprentice artisans, priests, and the indispensable donors.

A Buddhist image is a sacred object, an icon that carries the spiritual force of the divinity it represents. The making of an image was therefore accompanied by a number of rites performed by priests, from the consecration of the wood (in the case of a wooden sculpture), to the recording of dedications on the base or interior (if hollow), to the final “eye-opening” (kaigen kuyo) that imbued the image with divine power. Sutra readings, daily prayers, and purification rites might also be performed throughout the course of production, which thus became a group effort even for a small work made by a single artist.

The Jizo Bosatsu in the Rockefeller Collection was produced by the sculptor Zen’en, who was active in Nara from the 1220s to about 1250. Zen’en’s name is recorded in inscriptions written on the interior surfaces of the hollow figure, along with information that yields an approximate date for the piece. Sanskrit incantations and the Sanskrit letter representing Jizo also appear, along with certain prayers and invocations of Jizo and Kasuga Gongen Daimyojin, a collective title for the Shinto gods and associated Buddhist divinities of the Kasuga-Kofukuji shrine-temple complex. The names of individuals linked through these prayers are also listed; such a group would have offered spiritual (and likely financial) support for the creation of the sculpture. Some of these individuals, and Zen’en himself, are known to have had deep connections to Kofukuji—a fact that, along with the notation of Kasuga Daimyojin, suggests a relationship between this Jizo image and the Kasuga-Kofukuji complex. Considering its size, the sculpture was probably meant for installation in a branch temple. In any case, the faithful who supported its production hoped to gain the favor of Jizo and the protection of Kasuga Daimyojin, offering fervent prayers through the making of the image for better things in this life and beyond.