Yakushi Nyorai

9th century; wood with traces of polychromy and lacquer; h. 49.7 cm. National Treasure

The Healing Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai, was especially popular during the early Heian period, and many images were executed for worship halls and private residences in the ninth and tenth centuries. But the presence of this deity was known well before then, in at least the seventh century, when the Horyu-ji was established and became one of the great centers of Buddhist learning in pre-Nara period Japan. Among the mural paintings in the golden hall is a depiction of Yakushi seated European-style surrounded by his followers and heavenly beings in paradise (unfortunately lost to fire in 1949 and replaced by a copy). Seated on the raised central platform are a number of important early Buddhist sculptural images in wood and cast bronze, among which is a late seventh century bronze image, framed by a halo, of Yakushi that bears the date of ad 603. Judging from these impressive examples and a number of smaller gilt bronzes, the Healing Buddha must have been an accepted image in the Nara and Asuka areas. By the eighth century the magnificent large cast-bronze devotional image at the nearby Yakushi-ji had been placed in the temple's Kondo.

Thus, both large and small, standing and seated images appear before the late Heian period, all fundamentally identifiable by the extended proper left hand resting on or against the left leg, palm open and facing upward to accept the defining emblem of the deity: a small, lidded medicine jar (missing here). This left-hand gesture, considered in concert with the raised right hand, palm facing outward toward the viewer, helps identify the deity as Nyorai. The Horyu-ji images (and others) provide a reliable iconographical context in Japan for the subsequent transformations of this deity that take place. But popular recognition of the deity as Nyorai, who vows to guide the faithful toward enlightenment by removing the obstacles of illness and disease, won great favor in early Japan where these afflictions were normal and associated with uncleanliness, according to earlier Shinto beliefs. Although this stunning image has lost several fingers, it appears to have been in a normal pose, signifying a variation of "fear not" (proper right) and "wish granting" (proper left) mudras.

The image was carved entirely from a single piece of kaya (Japanese nutmeg) wood, including the base in the form of a lotus bud. (One small replacement piece carved for the restoration of drapery folds at the very front of the base has been added.) The lower parts of the dais are modern.

The clarity, strength, and sheer beauty of the carved wooden form and surface are apparent. This mode of depicting drapery folds as an alternating pattern of wide scooped areas bounded by rounded furls or shapely pointed ridge lines is well known in Japanese sculpture of this era, but rarely has it achieved such an extraordinarily pleasing aesthetic effect. Enveloping the compact fleshy body of the Yakushi, the robe helps define this meditative deity, whose modest scale assists also. The robe shows clear evidence of the polychromy that once adorned its surface, most of which has been lost, revealing the warm texture and grain patterns of the wood. This same patinationgofun (white powdered shell with a binder) over which a light yellow pigment is appliedappears also in the special category of Buddhist sculpture in Heian and Kamakura Japan known as danzo. Specifically commissioned to be carved from fragrant woods, such images were thought to impart special efficacy to an image, based in part on the rarity (and expense) of the material imported from the continent. The Shaka of 985 brought to Japan from China two years later provides the actual sculptural basis and historical documentation for examining this tradition of sculpting in East Asia and for its related manifestations in Japanese art.

Thus by the early ninth century in Japan, it is apparent that the specific nature of various woods was carefully considered and the level of sculptural sophistication extraordinary. This point is historically noteworthy because the previous tradition of image making had been done almost exclusively in dry lacquer and metal, crafts with vastly different technical requirements. Still, a small number of single wood-block images from Nara studios in the seventh and eighth centuries provide historical and iconographical background for this remarkable piece. The most important are the large figures issuing from the Toshodai-ji's sculptural studio, the related images at the Daian-ji, and the Miroku Nyorai from Todai-ji in this exhibition.

Currently within the spectrum of Japanese sculptural history there exist two images closely related to this seated Yakushi, the most important of which is a seated Amida Nyorai with flanking figures of similar dimensions and date in the Shitenno-ji in Osaka. The Shitenno-ji is a very old temple, preceding in fact the Horyu-ji. The sculptural conception of the Amida figure there, as well as details of surface carving, drapery configurations, and dais shape, strongly suggest that the Nara National Museum and this Shitenno-ji figure issued from the same sculptural studio in Nara. The other, smaller figure that properly belongs to this group is the Cleveland Nikko Bosatsu. Comparison of these three figures with other related, but distinct ninth-century sculptures reveals their special aesthetic niche in early Heian sculpture.

The provenance of the Nara National Museum Yakushi Nyorai includes the important and intriguing information that at least in the late nineteenth century it was the principal devotional image at the Nyakuo-ji Shinto shrine in the Higashiyama hills of eastern Kyoto. Thus it demonstrates, as do other pieces in the exhibition, the palpable expression of honji suijaku, whereby native Shinto spirits found visual expression in corresponding Buddhist forms and vice versa. Whether this Yakushi image was made in the ninth century for the Nyakuo-ji Shrine ormore likelywas moved to the site at a later, unknown date has resisted investigations in this century. It is common for Buddhist icons to have been transported from one location to another, often on numerous occasions, since their original commissioning.

Whatever the history of its placement, its modest size and superlative sculptural expression suggest the work of a master craftsman and sophisticated patron in the ninth century. It is clear, however, that at the end of the nineteenth century, when the support of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines was undermined by the Meiji government's reforms seeking the separation of church and state, this image, like many others, was destined to leave its sacred place at the shrine.

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.