The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2023

Welcoming Descent of Amida (Amida Raigō)

阿弥陀二十五菩薩来迎図

1300–1333

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185-1333)

Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on silk

Image: 171.8 x 84.5 cm (67 5/8 x 33 1/4 in.); Overall: 269.1 x 113.3 cm (105 15/16 x 44 5/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1953.123

Location

not on view

Description

In the Pure Land school of Buddhism, Amida Buddha is the focus of worship. Pictured here is the raigō, or the moment when Amida descends with his retinue to welcome a dying person into his Pure Land, called the Western Paradise. Once there, a person can concentrate on becoming enlightened. Images like this one could be placed before a person on their deathbed to help them stay faithful and motivated to attain birth in the Pure Land.

Provenance
?-1953
(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1953-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Sano, Emily J., Randall Laird Nadeau, Alison J. Miller, Erin K. Murphy, and Katherine Crawford Luber. Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism. 2017. fig. 3.1 42
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 916 archive.org
Grotennuis, Elizabeth Ten. "Visions of a Transcendent Realm: Pure Land Images in the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 7 (1991): 274-300. Reproduced: p. 288; Mentioned: p. 288-91 www.jstor.org
"Reopening of the Asian Galleries at The Cleveland Museum of Art: An Interview with David Franklin." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, vol. 44, no. 8 (November/December 2013): pp. 60-63. Reproduced: p. 61
Miller, Alison J. "Raigo: The Welcoming Descent of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism." In Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism. Sano, Emily J., Randall Laird Nadeau, and Alison J. Miller, p. 41-49. San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2017. Reproduced: p. 42, fig. 3.1
Exhibition history

The Cleveland Museum of Art; Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 16-July 13, 2004).

The Cleveland Museum of Art; Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 29-December 23, 2013).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 7-July 8, 2019).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.123