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Japanese Buddhist Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

s or statues concealed from public view. ''Hibutsu'' are generally located within Buddhist temples in shrines called . They are unavailable for viewing or worship except for certain religious ceremonies. It is possible in some cases for the ''hibutsu'' to be viewed in exchange for an offering to the temple. Some ''hibutsu'', such as the wooden statue of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

at Seiryō-ji or the

Amida Amida can mean : Places and jurisdictions * Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of: ** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida ** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Ro ...

statuary at

Zenkō-ji is a Buddhism, Buddhist temple located in the city of Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Japan. The temple was built in the 7th century. It is one of the few remaining pilgrimage sites in Japan. The modern city of Nagano began as a town built around the ...

, are almost never displayed, even to initiates of the temples in which they are held (such examples are called ''zettai hibutsu''). Others are put on public display rarely, in a ceremony called .

History

Whilst the practice of concealing important religious artefacts within ''zushi'' or behind curtains dates to the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, the ''hibutsu'' came slightly later. It is possible that the original practice was based on the

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

concept of without physical form, however a document from

Kōryū-ji is a Shingon temple in Uzumasa, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan. The temple is also known by the names and , and was formerly known as , and . Kōryū-ji is said to be the oldest temple in Kyoto, having been constructed in 603 by Hata no Kawakatsu ...

indicates that it began at that temple with the concealment of a statue of

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

imported from

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

in 616. The earliest record of an actual ''hibutsu'' dates from 1106, when sources indicate the Amida statues at Zenkō-ji were briefly put on display. By the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

''hibutsu'' had become a popular concept in Japanese Buddhism, and during this time ''kaichō'' ceremonies became major public events, drawing crowds of thousands. Art historian Shiro Ito notes that ''hibutsu'' are a uniquely Japanese phenomenon; other Buddhist cultures do not have any equivalent practice. The concealment of ''hibutsu'' is intended to emphasise their potency and transcendence. It may also serve to protect them from pollution by the impure influences of the mundane world, or to preserve the personal privacy of these "living" embodiments of Buddhism. Liza Dalby's novel ''Hidden Buddhas'' is based on the concept of ''hibutsu''.

References

{{reflist, 30em Buddhism in Japan Buddhist art Buddha statues