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Nationally designated Important Cultural Property (designated 1901)
Made: Kamakura period (late 12th – early 14th century)
Henmyōin temple, Senzu, Ushimado
Colour on silk, hanging scroll
Dimensions: 108.0×54.1cm
Amida and the twenty-five Bodhisattva are here shown riding clouds, coming to escort a devotee who is awaiting Amida’s salvation on his deathbed in the house painted at the bottom right of the picture.
Each figure is picked out in brilliant gold and is clearly visible against the deep blue background. This contrast only serves to enhance the religious nature and dignity of the composition. Most of the gold areas have been applied with stamped gold leaf, though some details, such as hemp leaves, swastika and mesh-patterning, have been skillfully applied with cut-gold leaf. The hair is colored in a deep ultramarine, the lips vermilion, and the outlines drawn with ultra-fine lines of india ink.
Although in many ways a fairly typical work on the theme of the ‘Welcoming Descent of Amida Buddha’, this piece is nevertheless seen as a particularly fine example.