Shaka at Birth (Tōdai-ji)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
National Treasures[1]

The standing bronze statue of

National Treasures.[2][3]

Subject

A local celebration of Buddha's birthday at Katori. Devotees ladle water over the image

The birth of Shaka, the historical Buddha (

Dragon Kings.[8][9][10]

The Sutra on the meritorious action of bathing the Buddha's image was translated into Chinese in 710.

hana matsuri or "flower festival") sees the bathing of small Buddha statues amidst garlands of flowers.[8][11] Perfumed water was once used but, since the nineteenth century, this has generally been replaced by sweet hydrangea tea known as amacha, or just water.[note 2][1][7] Another variant sees the image repeatedly wiped with a silk cloth rather than anointed.[6]

Celebrations of the Buddha's birth have been staged in Japan on the eighth day of the fourth month since

Important Cultural Property).[10][12] This example at Tōdai-ji is generally dated to the 750s.[1][9]

At Tōdai-ji today, a temporary flower hall (花御堂, hanamidō) is erected each year before the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall).[13] This National Treasure Shaka at Birth was still used in the ceremony when Langdon Warner was writing in the late 1950s and indeed as late as the 1980s.[9][14][15] More recently it has been replaced with a copy.[16]

Statue

Evoking the legend of his birth, the statue of the infant Buddha has its right arm raised, pointing to heaven, and left arm pendant, pointing to the earth; he is bare chested and wears a skirt.

lotus petals.[9]

Basin

Like the statue, the basin or kanbutsuban is the largest of its type known.

Chinese lions, and hunters chasing tigers are similar to motifs found on metalwork in Tōdai-ji's celebrated repository the Shōsōin.[1][6][9] Much of this decoration is secular rather than Buddhist in inspiration.[6] Like the statue, the basin shows the influence of contemporary Tang China.[1][6]

Technology

Both statue and basin are of

engraved and the background of dots hammered with a burin in the technique known as "fish-roe" (魚々子, nanako).[9][18] Both statue and bowl are recognized as masterpieces of eighth-century metalwork.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 天上天下唯我独尊 (tenjō tenga yuiga dokuson); as a modern idiom these words are sometimes used to satirize self-aggrandizing conceit
  2. ^ Amacha was also used to sweeten beverages, before the introduction of sugar to Japan in the seventeenth century; mixed with ink it is used to write on paper that is the glued to the wall of houses to ward off insects

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0913304549
    .
  2. ^ "銅造誕生釈迦仏立像" [Standing bronze statue of Shaka at Birth] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  3. ^ "銅造灌仏盤" [Bronze kanbutsuban] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  4. ^ "Shaka hassou". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Shaka". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  6. ^
    ISBN 0912804084
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 2080135589
    .
  8. ^ a b c d e "Kanbutsu-e". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  9. ^
    ISBN 0253326346
    .
  10. ^ a b c d e de Visser, M. W. (1935). Ancient Buddhism in Japan I. Brill. pp. 45–57.
  11. ISBN 9781403964205
    .
  12. ^ "銅造誕生釈迦仏立像" [Standing bronze statue of Shaka at Birth] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  13. ^ "仏生会" [Rites for the Buddha's Birth (Bussho-e)] (in Japanese). Tōdai-ji. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  14. ^ a b Warner, Langdon (1964). Japanese Sculpture of the Tempyo Period: Masterpieces of the Eighth Century. Harvard University Press. pp. 92f.
  15. ISBN 0834810212
    .
  16. ^ "奈良 東大寺所蔵 誕生釈迦仏" [Nara - Todaiji Collection - Shaka at Birth] (in Japanese). YouTube. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  17. ^ "Rahotsu". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  18. ^ "Nanako". Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. Retrieved 2 April 2012.

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