Artworks

Tanjō Shaka

Artwork · Anonymous · 8th century · statue · Tōdai-ji Temple

A small gilt-bronze image of the newborn Shaka, already with the marks of a Buddha, raising his right hand to heaven and lowering the left to the earth as he proclaims himself lord of all above and below. Said to have been made for the eye-opening ceremony of 752; set in a basin engraved with landscapes and figures for the yearly ritual on the Buddha’s birthday, when coloured water is poured over it. 1 Mason 2005, p. 93, fig. 117. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.