Male and Female Shinto Deities

These small yet dignified deities, in the guise of court nobles, are early examples of the anthropomorphizing of Shinto gods. The figures sit Buddha-like, their legs folded beneath them. The god wears a tall headpiece and holds a scepter, symbol of secular authority. The goddess, her hair fastened in a tall chignon, rests her right hand on her knee. Her left hand, which may have held an object, is now lost. The figures were originally part of a larger group of five statuettes—two male and three female—said to have been removed from the Shinto shrine of Usa Hachimangū, on northern Kyūshū. Another male and female pair are now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and a third female figure is in the Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Nara (figs. 16, 17).[1] The female figures in Cleveland and Nara each have one knee raised, suggesting that in the original arrangement these two female deities flanked the other three figures, with the Cleveland goddess at the left and the Nara figure at the right. We do not know whether or not this type of symmetrical placement was intended, however, as early Shinto statues were not accessible for public viewing.

The visual representation in Shinto of kami (or spirits) was inspired by the imagery of (or spirits) was inspired by the imagery of aristocratic Japanese families were given official recognition by the court in the ninth century, as a reward for the families' political and cultural contributions. Represented in human form, these syncretic images, which incorporated elements of Buddhist—specifically Mikkyō —iconography, included female Shinto deities rendered as court ladies, initially in Tang-style Chinese robes and later garbed in the many-layered courtly dresses of the Heian period. Male deities were represented as court noblemen, with tall caps and scepters, or sometimes as soldiers or Buddhist monks. Without inscriptions, the identities of many of these figures cannot be determined.

Shinto statues are usually made of wood, probably from old trees revered as the dwelling places of the kami. The original group to which the Burke figures belonged is carved primarily in the ichiboku zukuri (single block) technique, though many parts of the sculptures are fashioned from separate pieces of wood. The knees of the gods in the Burke and Cleveland collections, for example, were made from individual pieces, and their hats must also have had separate parts. Deep cracks are visible on the face and body of the goddess in the Burke Collection, giving the false impression that it is made of several pieces of wood. All five statuettes have suffered insect damage, and the pigment that originally covered the bodies and robes has flaked off.

The massive, blocklike body of the Burke goddess is covered by a robe with simple but deeply cut folds, arranged on the forearm in a manner reminiscent of honpa (rolling waves), a technique that characterizes wood sculptures of the late ninth and the tenth century. Most likely the figural group was carved by a sculptor who worked in the Buddhist tradition, modifying the hairstyles and robes to suit the specific requirements of Shinto icons.

The style of carving used to delineate face and draperies and the treatment of the solid, weighty bodies, with their broad shoulders and squarish faces, bear a strong resemblance to those typical of Buddhist sculpture of the late ninth century. The sculptures have been dated variously from the early tenth to the twelfth century.[2] Here, they are tentatively dated to the early tenth on the basis of the squarish faces, blocklike bodies, and the deeply cut drapery folds on the goddess, all of which reflect characteristics still prevalent in sculpture of the ninth century.

[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]

[1] All five figures are reproduced in Murata Seiko 1983 and in Kanda 1985, pls. 40–45.
[2] Murata Seiko (1983, p. 31) dates them to the first half of the eleventh century, Kanda (1985, pls. 40, 43) to the twelfth. See also Kurata Bunsaku 1980, no. 84 (as early tenth century).

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," July 5, 2005–August 19, 2005.

Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 4, 2005–December 11, 2005.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," January 24, 2006–March 5, 2006.

Miho Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 15, 2006–June 11, 2006.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art," April 9, 2019–June 30, 2019.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japan: A History of Style," March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022.

Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄, Mary Griggs Burke, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, and Gifu-ken Bijutsukan 岐阜県美術館. Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki ニューヨーク・バーク・コレクション展 : 日本の美三千年の輝き(Enduring legacy of Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke collection). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005, p. 63, cat. no. 7.

Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia W. Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Ake Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 2, Japanese Objects, Korean Art, Chinese Art. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], pp. 16–17, cat. nos. 563a, b.

Vilbar, Sinéad, and Kevin Gray Carr. Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art. Exh. cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019, pp. 152–57, cat. nos. 58, 61.