The at

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...

in the city of

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

in Japan, along with the lustration basin in which the image stands, are of the type used in the annual celebrations of the Buddha's birth on 8 April. The statue and its basin date to the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

(710-794) and have been designated National Treasures.

Subject

A birthday of Buddha,hanamatsuri,kanpukuji-temple,katori-city,japan

The birth of Shaka, the historical Buddha (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Siddhārtha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

or Śākyamuni), is one of the eight major events in the life of the Buddha that formed a popular subject for artistic representation. While Māyā was walking in the Lumbinī gardens and had stopped to pick flowers, the Buddha is said to have emerged from her right side. According to the ''Dīrghāgama Sūtra'', the young prince immediately took seven steps in the four directions and declared "in the Heavens and on Earth, only I am the Venerable One".天上天下唯我独尊 (''tenjō tenga yuiga dokuson''); as a modern idiom these words are sometimes used to satirize self-aggrandizing conceit The ''Lalitavistara'' relates that the infant was then bathed by two

nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

, Nanda and Upananda, serpent deities or Dragon Kings. The ''Sutra on the meritorious action of bathing the Buddha's image'' was translated into Chinese in 710. Reenacting the legend of the Buddha's birth, the annual rite known as ''kanbutsu-e'' ("rite of sprinkling the Buddha", more popularly '' hana matsuri'' or "flower festival") sees the bathing of small Buddha statues amidst garlands of flowers. Perfumed water was once used but, since the nineteenth century, this has generally been replaced by sweet

hydrangea ''Hydrangea'', () commonly named the hortensia, is a genus of over 75 species of flowering plants native to Asia and the Americas. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Korea, and Japan. Most are shrubs tall, ...

tea known as ''amacha''.''Amacha'' was also used to sweeten beverages, before the introduction of sugar to Japan in the seventeenth century; mixed with ink it is used to write on paper that is the glued to the wall of houses to ward off insects Another variant sees the image repeatedly wiped with a silk cloth rather than

anointed Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...

. Celebrations of the Buddha's birth have been staged in Japan on the eighth day of the fourth month since

Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 推古天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628. In the history of Japa ...

ordered that vegetarian feasts should be held in all the temples in 606. ''Kanbutsu-e'' or "sprinkling" ceremonies are known to have been held at the Seiryōden, led by a priest from

Gangō-ji is an ancient Buddhist temple, that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Nara, Japan. History The original foundation of the temple was by Soga no Umako in Asuka, as Asuka-dera. The temple was moved to Nara in 718, following ...

, in 840 and the '' Engi shiki'' lists the utensils used at these Palace ceremonies. Earlier temple records and inventories of their treasures list ''kanbutsuzō'' or "images for sprinkling" at

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple was ...

and

Daian-ji was founded during the Asuka period and is one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, Japan. History The Nihon Shoki records the founding of the , predecessor of the Daian-ji, in 639 during the reign of Emperor Jomei. A nine-story pagoda was ...

, and early surviving examples include one dating to the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after ...

at in Aichi Prefecture ( Important Cultural Property). This example at

is generally dated to the 750s. At Tōdai-ji today, a is erected each year before the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall). This National Treasure Shaka at Birth was still used in the ceremony when

Langdon Warner Langdon Warner (1881–1955) was an American archaeologist and art historian specializing in East Asian art. He was a professor at Harvard and the Curator of Oriental Art at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. He is reputed to be one of the models for Ste ...

was writing in the late 1950s and indeed as late as the 1980s. More recently it has been replaced with a copy.

Statue

Evoking the legend of his birth, the statue of the infant Buddha has its right arm raised, pointing to heaven, and left arm pendant, pointing to the earth; he is bare chested and wears a skirt. The elongated earlobes and spiral-shaped curls of hair, resembling snail-shells, are among the eighty secondary physical characteristics of the Buddha. The deep ridges on both body and arms "emphasize the fleshiness" of the smiling child's body. The soft, rounded, "sweet-faced" features of the young Buddha have been likened to those of the celestial musicians on the roughly contemporary octagonal lantern erected in front of the Tōdai-ji Daibutsuden. The original pedestal on which the image stands has been lost and replaced with a small wooden base carved with lotus petals.

Basin

Like the statue, the basin or ''kanbutsuban'' is the largest of its type known. The exterior has incised images of human figures, animals real and imaginary, birds, and butterflies, set against a landscape of flowers, grasses, shrubs, trees, mountain peaks, clouds, and

pagodas A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

. Images of hermits with banners riding on birds, barbarians in foreign garb astride Chinese lions, and hunters chasing tigers are similar to motifs found on metalwork in Tōdai-ji's celebrated repository the Shōsōin. Much of this decoration is secular rather than Buddhist in inspiration. Like the statue, the basin shows the influence of contemporary Tang China.

Technology

Both statue and basin are of gilt bronze,

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

using the lost-wax method. The statue was cast in one piece, other than for the right forearm which is a restoration; the join is clearly visible. Pieces of the clay core were left inside after casting. The decorative motifs on the outside of the basin were

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

and the background of dots hammered with a burin in the technique known as . Both statue and bowl are recognized as masterpieces of eighth-century metalwork.

Notes

References