The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 2, 2022

The White Path Between Two Rivers

二河白道図

1200s

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185-1333)

Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, silver, and cut gold on silk

Overall: 215.1 x 67.7 cm (84 11/16 x 26 5/8 in.); Overall with knobs: 215.1 x 73.3 cm (84 11/16 x 28 7/8 in.)

Gift of The Norweb Foundation 1955.44

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The Six Realms of Transmigration are the: heavenly realm, hells, human realm, animal realm, realm of hungry ghosts, and realm of fierce beings.

Description

This painting is a visual presentation of a parable ascribed to the seventh-century Chinese Buddhist monk Shandao. It describes the fraught journey to the west along a narrow path between a river of fire and a river of water. Along the way, the traveler is set upon by bandits and dangerous beasts, but is also guided by two friends. The story is an analogy for the journey out of the Six Realms of Transmigration to the Pure Land of the Buddha Amida.

Provenance
?-1955
(Howard Hollis and Co., Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1955-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Sano, Emily J., Randall Laird Nadeau, Alison J. Miller, Erin K. Murphy, and Katherine Crawford Luber. Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism. 2017. Plate 59 112
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 910 archive.org
Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19-20; cat. no. 19 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 276 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 276 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 374 archive.org
Lee, Sherman E, Ursula Korneitchouk, Michael R Cunningham, Ursula Korneitchouk, Cleveland Museum of Art, Japan House Gallery, Japan Society (New York, N.Y.), and Japan House Gallery. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 34-35, no. 14
Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of the Mind. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987. Reproduced: [p. 21]
Grotennuis, Elizabeth Ten. "Visions of a Transcendent Realm: Pure Land Images in the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 7 (1991): 274-300. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 292-297 www.jstor.org
Yamane, Yūzō 山根有三, Takashi Hamada 濱田隆, et al. Zaigai bijutsu [在外美術 = Selections of Japanese Art from Western Collections]. Tōkyō: Shōgakukan, 1994. Mentioned: pp. 23 and 242, no. 15
Aoyagi, Masanori 青柳正規. Nihon bijutsukan [日本美術館 = The art museum of Japan. Tōkyō: Shōgakkan, 1997. Reproduced: p. 365
Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華 : 特别展 : クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから = Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: p. 90, cat. no. 57
Finkel, Irving L., and Colin Mackenzie. Asian Games: The Art of Contest. [New York]: Asia Society, 2004. Reproduced: p. 80, fig. 6:3
Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. p. 42
Szostak, John D. “Two Paths to the Pure Land: The Niga-Byakudō Theme and the Modernist Buddhist Art of Hada Teruo.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 57, 2007, pp. 121–150. Reproduced: p. 123, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
Ulak, James T. "The Alchemy of Selection: Lee and the Japanese Collection," Orientations vol. 40, no. 5 (June 2009), pp. 41-47. Reproduced: p. 43, fig. 4
Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. Reproduced: cat. no. 5, pp. 32-34
Sano, Emily J., Randall Laird Nadeau, and Alison J. Miller. Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism. San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2017. Reproduced: p. 112, pl. 59
Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 16, 2003).

Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961).

Journey of the Three Jewels: Japanese Buddhist Paintings in Western Collections. Asia House Galleries, New York City, NY (organizer) (October 11-December 9, 1979); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (March 27-May 11, 1980).

Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983).

Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).

Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).

The Cooperative Program of the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties (organizer).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).

Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism. San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX (organizer) (June 16-September 10, 2017).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1955.44