One of the most significant traditions of image-making in medieval Japanese Buddhist art is based on a large group of gilt-bronze icons representing the Buddha Amida and his two attendant Bodhisattvas. The prototype, a secret image enshrined at Zenkoji in Nagano Prefecture, served as the basis both for numerous replications found in temples throughout Japan and for a highly developed cult that promised believers various rewards, including release from the terrors of hell and ultimate salvation in the western paradise of Amida. Donald McCallum takes a broad, multidisciplinary approach to relating this icon tradition to broader currents in Japanese political, social and religious history. Rather than reifying the icons as objects of art designed for aesthetic contemplation, the book focuses on the real issues that motivated their production. McCallum devotes particular attention to examining how worshipers conceived of the Zenkoji icon, which was believed by many to be actually alive.
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This is a fascinating book about a neglected theme of Buddhist history in Japan, indeed in East Asia at large. . . . Scholars of religion and in any field of Asian studies will enjoy reading a novel study which is underpinned by thorough investigations in Japan, the most erudite scholarship, and excellent illustrations and maps.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
JAPAN's most beloved and important story-cycle, The Tale of the Heike, here reports the disastrous burning of Zenkoji, which apparently occurred about the year 1179. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
JAPAN's most beloved and important story-cycle, The Tale of the Heike, here reports the disastrous burning of Zenkoji, which apparently occurred about the year 1179. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
4
books
cite this book:
- Images, Miracles And Authority In Asian Religious Traditions by Richard Davis in Front Matter
- The Oracles of the Three Shrines: Windows on Japanese Religion by Brian Bocking in Back Matter
- Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan by Andrew M. Watsky in Back Matter
- The Origins and Development of Pure Land Buddhism: A Study and Translation of Gyonen's Jodo Homon Genrusho by Mark L. Blum on page 263
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