Paradise of Amida Buddha (Amitabha)
Kasuga Kaishi
794-1185
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1904.112
Tags
Amitabha BuddhaBuddhismCharles Lang Freer collectionHeian period (794 - 1185)JapanJapanese ArtPure LandPure Land Buddhismapsarakakemono
About this artwork
Devotion to Amida Buddha within Japanese Buddhism reached a crescendo late in the Heian period (794-1185) and continued through the Kamakura period (1185-1333). Amida's Western Paradise was central to the iconography of Amidist cults, and most specifically to Pure Land Buddhism. Images of the Western Paradise were symmetrically-conceived views of paradisiacal court architecture and gardens populated by deities and souls recently arrived from the earth. Related images, called raigozu, show Amida ...