alb3636306
Seiryu Gongen
![Seiryu Gongen. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 35 13/16 × 17 5/8 in. (91 × 44.7 cm)
Overall with mounting: 68 7/8 × 24 13/16 in. (175 × 63 cm)
Overall with knobs: 68 7/8 × 25 7/8 in. (175 × 65.8 cm). Date: mid-14th century.
The Shinto goddess Seiryu Gongen appears here in a domestic interior befitting an aristocratic occupant. She wears courtly vestments and carries a wish-fulfilling jewel (Sanskrit: chintamani) in her right hand. Just outside her chamber stands a young girl to whom she has given a book, the Records of Miraculous Medicine (Koyaku no shirushi bumi).
The goddess towers majestically over her young companion. The name Seiryu Gongen can be written in two ways: depending on the characters used, Seiryu means either "pure waterfall" or "blue dragon"; gongen is an honorific title that can mean "god" or "goddess." The goddess was believed originally to have been the titulary deity at Blue Dragon Temple (Chinese: Qinglongsi) in Chang'an (modern Xian), China. She is said to have been introduced to Japan by the monk Kukai (774-835) and was later adopted as the protective deity of the Shingon School at Jingoji, a temple in Kyoto. There, she was worshipped as a manifestation of the daughter of the Dragon King Sagara, the princess Zen'nyo, whose enlightenment at the age of eight is described in the Lotus Sutra. She was later introduced to Daigoji in Kyoto and other Esoteric Buddhist temples where her nature underwent a complex metamorphosis through the Shinto-Buddhist syncretistic doctrine known as honji-suijaku (literally, "original ground and flowing traces"). In this doctrine, the deity was believed to be the avatar of two Esoteric Buddhist deities: Nyoirin Kannon (Sanskrit: Chintamanichakra), an alleviator of suffering, and Juntei Kannon (Sanskrit: Chundi), a deity associated with fecundity.
A tradition where monks experience visions of the deity appears to have begun at Daigoji in the eleventh century, and this image closely corresponds to a vision had by the monk Shinken (1179-1261). Such visions were frequently commemorated with paintings.
Based on original work by Miyeko Murase (Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art [New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000], cat. no. 35).](/photos/prev/ZjQ1MjkzMA/album_alb3636306.webp)
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Title:
Seiryu Gongen
Caption:
Seiryu Gongen. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 35 13/16 × 17 5/8 in. (91 × 44.7 cm)
Overall with mounting: 68 7/8 × 24 13/16 in. (175 × 63 cm)
Overall with knobs: 68 7/8 × 25 7/8 in. (175 × 65.8 cm). Date: mid-14th century.
The Shinto goddess Seiryu Gongen appears here in a domestic interior befitting an aristocratic occupant. She wears courtly vestments and carries a wish-fulfilling jewel (Sanskrit: chintamani) in her right hand. Just outside her chamber stands a young girl to whom she has given a book, the Records of Miraculous Medicine (Koyaku no shirushi bumi).
The goddess towers majestically over her young companion. The name Seiryu Gongen can be written in two ways: depending on the characters used, Seiryu means either "pure waterfall" or "blue dragon"; gongen is an honorific title that can mean "god" or "goddess." The goddess was believed originally to have been the titulary deity at Blue Dragon Temple (Chinese: Qinglongsi) in Chang'an (modern Xian), China. She is said to have been introduced to Japan by the monk Kukai (774-835) and was later adopted as the protective deity of the Shingon School at Jingoji, a temple in Kyoto. There, she was worshipped as a manifestation of the daughter of the Dragon King Sagara, the princess Zen'nyo, whose enlightenment at the age of eight is described in the Lotus Sutra. She was later introduced to Daigoji in Kyoto and other Esoteric Buddhist temples where her nature underwent a complex metamorphosis through the Shinto-Buddhist syncretistic doctrine known as honji-suijaku (literally, "original ground and flowing traces"). In this doctrine, the deity was believed to be the avatar of two Esoteric Buddhist deities: Nyoirin Kannon (Sanskrit: Chintamanichakra), an alleviator of suffering, and Juntei Kannon (Sanskrit: Chundi), a deity associated with fecundity.
A tradition where monks experience visions of the deity appears to have begun at Daigoji in the eleventh century, and this image closely corresponds to a vision had by the monk Shinken (1179-1261). Such visions were frequently commemorated with paintings.
Based on original work by Miyeko Murase (Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art [New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000], cat. no. 35).
Technique/material:
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Period:
Nanbokucho period (1336-92)
Museum:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Credit:
Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Releases:
Model: No - Property: No
Rights questions?
Rights questions?
Image size:
3148 x 4200 px | 37.8 MB
Print size:
26.7 x 35.6 cm | 10.5 x 14.0 in (300 dpi)
