Explanation of Plate: Eleven-headed Kannon of the Hagadera, Fukui
Year: 1967
Type: article
Abstract: The Hagadera, in the outskirts of Obama City, Fukui, is known as the oldest and most important temple in the former Wakasa province, the region closely related to Kyoto culturally and economically. The Hagadera Engi, a record of the temple down to about the 4th year of the Taiei Era, contains an account of this statue. This temple, founded in the Nara period, was destroyed by a flood and landslide in 947. In the next year, a Buddhist devotee named Jōzō, who is said to have had mystic religious power, reconstructed the buildings and the main image. And this is the period to which this statue now in question is attributed. This Eleven-headed Kannon (Avalokiteśvala), the Nyoirin Kannon (Cintāmaṇicakra) of the Kanshinji and the Godai Kokuzō (Five Great Akāśa- garbhas) of the Jingoji have stylistic features in common and the technique of dry lacquer, descended from the Nara period, was applied to the making of the coloured one-block wooden sculptures. But the Eleven-headed Kannon is less massive than the other two. The so-called “rainbow shading” seen on the front of the skirt is rather similar to the painted decoration inside the five-storied pagoda of the Daigoji which was built in the middle of the 10th century. Coins with the inscription of the era name Engi were found in the hollw body of the image. These facts suggest that the Kannon was made in the middle of the 10th century. The Eleven-headed Kannon of the Fukuchiin, Hiroshima, with graceful countenance is also a coloured one-block wooden statue of the same poriod, and its facial expression resembles the one of the Hagadera. The Fukuchiin example was introduced in No. 219 of this journal.
Authors: 猪川, 和子, Ikawa, Kazuko
Language: Japanese
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7208115510