Object number2004.10

Nachi Pilgrimage Mandala

Daten.d.

Artist Currently Unidentified

CultureJapanese

MediumInk, colors, and gold leaf on paper, mounted as hanging scroll

DimensionsImage: 59 1/16 x 59 7/16 in. (150 x 151 cm)
Overall (Open): 79 1/8 x 68 7/8 in. (201 x 175 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Pratt Fund and Betsy Mudge Wilson, class of 1956, Memorial Fund

PeriodEdo period, 16th - early 17th c

Classification(s)

Painting

BibliographyWatsky, Andrew M. "Locating China in the Arts of the Sixteenth-Century Japan." Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 89; Mundy, James. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Vassar College The History and Collection. New York: Prestel Publishing, 2007, pp. 60-61; Proser, Adrianna. Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art. New York: Asia Society, 2010, p. 153, fig. 72; Lucic, Karen. Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice. Poughkeepsie, New York: FLLAC, 2015, p. 62; Vilbar, Sinead and Kevin Gray Carr. "Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art." The Cleveland Museum of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp.178-181

Vassar Exhibitions

Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, and Practice

Exhibition HistoryPilgrimage and Buddhist Art, Asia Society and Museum, New York, NY, March 16 - June 20, 2010;

Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 23 - June 28, 2015;

Shinto: Discovering the Devine in Japanese Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, April 9 - June 30, 2019

Label TextLocated in the Kii Peninsula, the Nachi Shrine is one of three major pilgrimage sites of Japan's Honshu Island. Considered sacred by practitioners of Shinto, the area is home to numerous powerful kami, entities believed to reside in and influence the physical environment. As Buddhism arrived in Japan in the seventh century, interactions between the local and foreign traditions led to syncretic practices, included ascetic retreats in the mountainous landscape around Nachi. Resident monk studied these paintings to narrate the countless factual and apocryphal tales associated with the site, using the expressive vignettes of devotional activities as illustrations. More than four dozen buildings are intertwined within the environment through a winding pilgrimage path that passes the iconic Nachi no Taki waterfall, which dominates the right of the paintings. Throughout the composition, aristocrats, commoners, monks, and warriors are busily engaged in various activities, combining social reality with religious imaginary. Of the approximately thirty known Nachi pilgrimage paintings of this period, all but two are located in Japan.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu