Artworks

Tamamushi Shrine

Artwork · Anonymous · c. 650 · zushi · Hōryū-ji Temple

A portable zushi in the form of a kondō on a tall plinth: the earliest evidence of Japanese Buddhist architecture, older than the golden hall of Hōryūji. Named after the iridescent wings of the tamamushi beetle once set under its openwork metal. The paintings in red, yellow and green on black lacquer — the only Buddhist painting left from the Asuka period — show bodhisattvas, the Four Guardian Kings and jātaka tales; on one side the Hungry Tigress, told in continuous narrative down the panel. 1 Mason 2005, p. 75, fig. 90–91. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.