Bato Kannon

dated 1241, by Ryoken, Zozen, and Kankei (dates unknown); wood with lacquer, polychromy, and cut gold decoration; figure: h. 106.5 cm, base: 33.5 cm, halo: 134.5 cm; Joruri-ji, Kyoto Prefecture. Important Cultural Property

Bato Kannon is one of the six compassionate bodhisattvas who help identify the doctrinal six worlds (rokudo) or "levels of migration" in Esoteric Buddhism. Each of the six deities presides over one domain, and devotees petition that deity to cross through its realm or intervene on behalf of a soul mired in such a purgatory.

Bato is recognizable from the attributes in his hands and the mudras, the hand gestures that refer to making blessings, warding off evil, and clearing obstacles from the path to enlightenment. The presence of a horse head in the crown, framed by upright hair strands, also identifies Bato Kannon. This motif symbolizes and identifies the concept of the third realm of the rokudo in which animals are considered the repositories for human souls seeking redemption. Representations of Bato are rare, much more so than Jizo, Juichimen, or even Aizen Myoo, another six-armed forbidding deity in the Esoteric Buddhist pantheon.

Iconographical drawings of the Kamakura period owned by the Shomyo-ji in Kanagawa record eighth- and ninth-century representations of Bato based upon sutra texts being
introduced into Japan. The earliest version, thought to date from the late seventh to early eighth century, shows Bato with a lotus blossom in one hand and a sword in another. A slightly later drawing--about mid-eighth century--shows him holding a lotus flower on a long stem in one hand and a long-handled axe in another. The cast design of a rare Tang vajra in the Nara National Museum collection portrays the deity as one of the four great myoo with four arms. Thus it appears that the cult of Bato in Tang China was strong, coming to Japan by the mid-eighth century but not truly flourishing there until the late Heian and Kamakura periods, when Esoteric Buddhism's influence was actually waning. The earliest Bato Kannon of this type with three heads and six arms is recorded as having been part of an assemblage of six Kannon in the Yakushido of Hojo-ji, tutelary temple of Fujiwara Michinaga, which is no longer extant.

This startling image comes from the Joruri-ji, a Shingon sect temple in the Saidai-ji lineage situated along an ancient pilgrimage route connecting the regions north of Lake Biwa to Nara. It is thought traditionally that it might have been carved to replace an earlier Bato image lost to fire, but that cannot be verified.

The animation of this figure results from an extraordinary synthesis of riveting facial expression, surface ornamentation, color preservation, and the deft sculptural modeling of figure, halo, and lotus base. Essentially all these elements retain their original character despite minor restorations. Paint has flaked off over the entire image but with particular effect on the face, where the fine white clay underpainting has emerged in a network of craquelure to mingle with the red outer surface, heightening the intensity of the figure's fanged scowl and setting off the clothing, the principal elements of which are a long shoulder scarf and a pair of skirts.

The outer waist robe is secured with a bow and extends to just above knee level in two arching hems. The hem borders are delicately painted with animal hair designs on a white shell ground. The rest of this animal hide skirt surface is prepared in multiple layers of rich green and blue mineral pigments over which two cut gold leaf (kirikane) designs have been applied. The underskirt features a resplendent orange surface on which deep blue roundels with gold kirikane decoration have been placed. In fact all the assembled clothing elements display an array of kirikane designs, including vine, star, and manji (a reversed swastika design, emblematic of a buddha).

The base, which is original, has retained much of its vibrant form and tonal palette. It is designed in pre-Kamakura style: each petal is carved thickly with attention to modeling and then set into a separate niche in the stem rather than as a continuous set of petals. The halo (kohai) is perhaps the most remarkable element in this ensemble as it has survived virtually intact for more than seven hundred years. It is carved almost entirely from one piece of wood whose surfaces have been scooped, chiseled, and smoothed to add a pulsating, three-dimensional background frame for the standing Bato. It is difficult to cite another complete Esoteric sculptural ensemble as exciting as this one, particularly because it brings together so compellingly the elements of surface beauty and expressive wrath.

Fortunately, considerable historical data is known about this sculpture. Because of its joined wood construction technique, many items from its hollowed interior were removed during restoration in the Meiji era. Chief among them is an extensive group of small, simply carved images of Bato Kannon (fifty-seven in all) and an inscription dated 1241 naming the three Nara sculptors responsible for the work. Each is known by other collaborative work, too, much of which is at or associated with the Saidai-ji, the priest Eison, and the so-called "Zen" school of Nara sculptors active in the middle Kamakura era. These images and the records concerning them help identify the characteristics of the Zen studio of sculptors in Nara in the mid-fourteenth century. This Bato for instance is markedly different from the Bato Kannon dated 1224 at the Daihoon-ji in Kyoto by the acknowledged Kei school master Jokei.

Also listed among the documents is the notation that the image was made for the "Nishi Odawara," the site of the current temple location. The Joruri-ji in its present state dates from the early twelfth century and houses a unique group of nine large Amida images as well as other important Heian period sculpture. Just where this Bato Kannon figure was installed remains uncertain.

The preceding entry, written by the Cleveland Museum of Art's Curator of Japanese and Korean Art Michael R. Cunningham and edited for use on this web site, is excerpted from the 268-page color-illustrated catalogue, Buddhist Treasures from Nara, available in hard or softcover at the museum stores.