id: 161027 accession number: 1999.262 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.262 updated: 2023-01-11 08:58:19.091000 Mandala of the Four Deities of Mt. Kōya, 1500s. Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573). Hanging scroll, ink, color and cut gold foil on silk; overall: 178.6 x 56.3 cm (70 5/16 x 22 3/16 in.); painting only: 97.5 x 39.3 cm (38 3/8 x 15 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Rosemarie and Leighton Longhi 1999.262 title: Mandala of the Four Deities of Mt. Kōya title in original language: 高野四所明神像 series: series in original language: creation date: 1500s creation date earliest: 1500 creation date latest: 1573 current location: creditline: Gift of Rosemarie and Leighton Longhi copyright: --- culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) technique: hanging scroll, ink, color and cut gold foil on silk department: Japanese Art collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 178.6 x 56.3 cm (70 5/16 x 22 3/16 in.); Painting only: 97.5 x 39.3 cm (38 3/8 x 15 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見 opening date: 2019-04-09T04:00:00 Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-June 30, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Rosemarie and Leighton R. Longhi, New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1999 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1999- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: The two kami, or deities, at the top of this painting are Kariba Myōjin and Niu Myōjin. They inhabit Mount Kōya and are described as son and mother. They are shown here as courtiers, with Kariba in Japanese-style court robes and Niu in robes modeled after court garments of the Tang dynasty. The two kami seated beneath are Kehi Myōjin, portrayed as a lady holding a whisk, and the youthful Miyajima Myōjin, with his hair drawn up in loops, playing a lute (biwa). Hōjō Masako (1157–1225), the wife of the first Kamakura shogun (leader) Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199), invited them to Mount Kōya. wall description: Upon his arrival in Japan, the 9th-century Buddhist priest Kukai began searching for a mountain location that would be suitable for a meditation hall. Along the way he met a Japanese hunter with two dogs who helped him find a site on Mount Koya. This building became the home of the influential Esoteric sect of Japanese Buddhism, and still flourishes today.

The male figure dressed in aristocratic garb at the upper left of this composition is the hunter, here deified as a spirit of Japan's pre-Buddhist, Shinto faith. He is joined by his wife and below by two female Shinto deities from other Shinto shrines in Japan. Beneath them, the black and white dogs refer to the hunter's role in the story. This joining of foreign Buddhist and native Shinto imagery represents an important aspect of Japanese cultural history.

The attractive gold "diaper" pattern in the lower portion of the painting represents the painted stone tiles of a religious building. The lines are thin strips of gold foil rather than paint applied with a handheld brush. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Vilbar, Sinéad, and Kevin Gray Carr. Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 226-227, no. 87 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.262/1999.262_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.262/1999.262_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.262/1999.262_full.tif