Jizo Bosatsu (Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva)

Original Language Title地蔵菩薩立像

CultureJapanese

Date9th-10th century C.E.

MediumWood

DimensionsOverall: 39 inches (99.06 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number31-141/2

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Friends of Far Eastern Art, 2^nd Exhibition of Japanese Art, The Art Gallery, Mills College, CA, March 26-May 3, 1936, no. 35.

Waning Moon, Rising Sun, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, October 6-November 22, 1959, no.8.

Gallery Label

Jizō (“Womb of the Earth”) is one of Japan’s most popular bodhisattvas, or enlightened beings who remain in this world to help others attain enlightenment. Jizō is represented here as a youthful monk with a shaven head. He holds a monk’s staff and a wish-granting jewel, which symbolize his power to protect expectant mothers, children, warriors, travelers, and those who suffer in hell. Typical of early Japanese sculptures, this Jizō is carved from a single block of wood. The outstretched hands and toes are later replacements.

Provenance

With S. Moritz until 1931;

Purchased from S. Moritz by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

Published References

Mills College, Friends of Far Eastern Art, 2^nd Exhibition of Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Oakland: 1936): pl. 13 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 2, Art of the Orient, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973): 99 (repro.).

Zenzō Shimizu, “Amerika, kanada ni aru nihon chōkoku 1,” Bukkyō geijutsu/ Ars Buddhica, no. 126, (Tokyo: 1979): 86, fig. 74 (repro.).

Zaigai nihon no shihō, vol. 8, Chōkoku, (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbun, 1980), pl. 33, 129 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 354 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 378.

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