Artwork Page for Kasuga Deer Mandala

Details / Information for Kasuga Deer Mandala

Kasuga Deer Mandala

春日鹿曼荼羅図

mid-1300s–1400s

Japan, Nanbokuchō period (1333–92) to Muromachi period

(1392–1573)
Medium
hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on silk
Measurements
Image: 95.6 x 39.1 cm (37 5/8 x 15 3/8 in.); Mounted: 184.2 x 63.8 cm (72 1/2 x 25 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1988.19
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

The deity Takemikazuchi no Mikoto is shown as the Buddha Shakyamuni with a red robe.

Description

Riding on a rolling cloud, a spotted deer wears a brightly colored saddle. The saddle supports a branch of the evergreen Sakaki tree, trailing wisteria vines that cradle a large golden mirror. Within the mirror sit the five Buddhist manifestations (honjibutsu) of the deities (kami) of the Kasuga Grand Shrine in Nara. The presence of the deer—the vehicle of the deity Takemikazuchi no Mikoto of the first of the five halls of the shrine—and the characteristics of the mountain range at the top of the painting make clear the association with the sacred site of Kasuga. The painting was likely created for an individual’s personal devotions to the Kasuga deities
A hanging scroll depicts a white, spotted deer standing on gold-brown clouds against a dark-blue sky with a spindly-branched and green-leafed Sakaki tree protruding from a saddle on its back. The tree cradles a gold circle in which sit five deities with light skin tones, cross-legged on lotus flowers with blue halos behind their bodies overlapped with green halos behind their heads. One deity sits central in a red robe.

Kasuga Deer Mandala

mid-1300s–1400s

Japan, Nanbokuchō period (1333–92) to Muromachi period (1392–1573)

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