Artwork Page for Fujiwara no Muchimaro

Details / Information for Fujiwara no Muchimaro

Fujiwara no Muchimaro

1200s or 1300s

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185–1333)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, and cut gold on silk
Measurements
Overall: 141.3 x 87 cm (55 5/8 x 34 1/4 in.); with knobs: 210.2 x 112.4 cm (82 3/4 x 44 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1983.5
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

The boughs of wisteria appearing in the background symbolize the figure's status as a Fujiwara family member.

Description

This portrait of Fujiwara no Muchimaro (680–737), a grandson of Fujiwara no Kamatari (614–669), includes an image of Buddha Dainichi Nyorai above his head. By situating the image of Dainichi there, this painting would seem to assert that Muchimaro is an avatar of Dainichi. In the same way that kami could be identified with Buddhist counterparts, powerful humans could also be seen as manifestations of Buddhist deities. A similar painting is at Eizanji in Nara, of which Muchimaro is known as the founder. It was once a branch temple of Kōfukuji, the Fujiwara family temple.
A vertically long hanging scroll depicts Fujiwara no Muchimaro, a man with light skin tone seated cross-legged and looking to our right. His black robes contrast with the green tatami, a rectangular mat, he sits on. In a circle above his head sits Buddha Dainichi Nyorai, a deity with light skin tone seated cross-legged on a lotus seat. In the background, wisteria, a flowering vine, can still subtly be seen extending across the darkened silk.

Fujiwara no Muchimaro

1200s or 1300s

Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)

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