ticketsMember | Make a donation

Mandala of Hiyoshi Sannō

late 16th–early 17th century
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This mandala shows small images of Shinto deities worshipped at shrines in the sacred terrain of Mount Hiei, immediately northeast of Kyoto. When it was set up as an imperial capital in the late eighth century, Kyoto was designed to be shielded by Hiei and other mountain peaks at its most cosmologically challenging directions. From ancient times Mount Hiei was associated with worship of the Shinto deity Ōyamakui-no-kami. The monk Saichō (767–822), upon his return from China, established a monastic headquarters for his new Tendai sect of Esoteric Buddhism there in 788. By the medieval period, the mountain was home to a vast Shinto-Buddhist complex of shrines and temples.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 日吉山王曼荼羅図
  • Title: Mandala of Hiyoshi Sannō
  • Period: Momoyama period (1573–1615)
  • Date: late 16th–early 17th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
  • Dimensions: Overall with mounting: 66 15/16 × 27 1/8 in. (170 × 68.9 cm)
    Image: 36 13/16 × 21 1/8 in. (93.5 × 53.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Lent by Gitter-Yelen Collection
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art