Demon Intoning the Name of the Buddha
late 1800s–early 1900s
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
194.4 × 61 cm · painting only: 106 × 42 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Kelvin Smith Fund
Accession Number
1991.77
Tags
About this artwork
Among the subjects of souvenir paintings made since the 1600s in Ōtsu, a travel hub near Kyoto in western Japan, was a demon in monk’s robes reciting the name of the Buddha Amida to the rhythm of his gong. Ōtsu paintings largely disappeared with the advent of rail travel in the late 1800s, as people no longer stopped in the area. In this work, Kyoto-based artist Suzuki Shōnen reimagined the demon for the modern era—the simple figure from the Ōtsu painting is transformed into a realistic one acco...