The merciful bodhisattva Jizō is shown leading a soul to paradise. Standing atop a cloud with his left foot forward, he holds a golden staff against his shoulder and wears garments rich with delicate patterns created using cut gold leaf. He turns to gaze at his follower—the viewer, the devotee—with gentle vigilance. Popularly known as “Jizō Looking Back,” or the “Mikaeri Jizō,” this type of image poignantly reflects faith in the bodhisattva’s merciful guidance through the sufferings of the six realms of existence to the bliss of Amida Buddha’s Western Paradise.
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見返り地蔵菩薩図
Title:The Bodhisattva Jizō “Looking Back”
Artist:Unidentified artist
Period:Nanbokuchō period (1336–92)
Date:14th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold paint (kindei), and cut gold on silk
Dimensions:Image: 33 1/4 x 14 1/2 in. (84.5 x 36.8 cm) Overall with mounting: 63 9/16 x 20 9/16 in. (161.4 x 52.2 cm) Overall with knobs: 64 9/16 x 22 7/16 in. (164 x 57 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Gift of Mrs. J. Watson Webb, 1930
Accession Number:30.72.2
Mrs. J. Watson Webb , New York (until 1930; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bodhisattva Jizo, Guardian of Wandering Souls," February 21–May 20, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Noh Robes," 1993.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan," 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan II," March 22–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Birds, Flowers, and Buddhist Paradise Imagery in Japanese Art," February 14–June 13, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Spring and Summer," December 17, 2005–June 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan Galleries," February 2–July 28, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection," February 27, 2018–January 21, 2019.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art," April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.
Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所, ed. Nyūyōku Metoroporitan Bijutsukan, kaiga, chōkoku ニューヨークメトロポリタン美術館，絵画・彫刻 (Painting and sculpture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Kaigai shozai Nihon bijutsuhin chōsa hōkoku 海外所在日本美術品調查報告 (Catalogue of Japanese art in foreign collections) 1. Tokyo: Kobunkazai Kagaku Kenkyūkai, 1991, p. 7, cat. no. 24.
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