Artworks

Nandaimon (Great South Gate), Tōdaiji

Artwork · Anonymous · 1199 · building · Tōdai-ji Temple

The building that best preserves the concept of Chōgen (1121–1206), the priest who led the rebuilding of Tōdaiji after the Taira burnt it in 1180, collecting funds across the country (Minamoto no Yoritomo was a generous donor). The original gate had fallen in a typhoon in 962. Built in 1199 in the daibutsuyō that Chōgen had studied on three journeys to China; its two great guardians were installed in 1203. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 185–187, fig. 214. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.