Artworks

Nine Amida Nyorai, Jōruriji

Artwork · Anonymous · 1067–1133 · sculpture · Jōruri-ji Temple

Nine Amida images on the altar of the Amida hall, the central one about a metre taller than the others and making the welcoming gesture (raigōin) — the nine grades of rebirth in Amida’s Western Paradise. Said to be in the style of Jōchō, the central Amida is close to the Byōdōin image, but the crossed legs are smaller and the drapery and features more sharply cut: a step away from the mid-Heian image. Judged by technique, the central figure is somewhat earlier than the flanking ones; the group belongs with the hall to the early Insei period. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 150–152, figs. 183–184. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.