Mandala of the Three Shrines at Kumano
Unknown Artist
1300s
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
217.2 × 80 cm · image: 134 × 62 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1953.16
About this artwork
This painting depicts the three shrines of Kumano from a bird’s-eye perspective, with the Buddhist counterparts of the kami of each shrine hall shown in discs directly above the halls. It also features figures, both pilgrims and deities, along the pilgrimage route and at the shrines. It is the only surviving work illustrating architectural representations of all three shrines in the same painting. They are compressed into a stacked composition, with the Nachi shrine at the top, the Shingū in the...