The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 9, 2023

Welcoming Descent of Jizō

地蔵菩薩来迎図

1200s

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185-1333)

Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, and cut gold on silk

Image: 59 x 33.2 cm (23 1/4 x 13 1/16 in.); Overall: 120.7 x 51.4 cm (47 1/2 x 20 1/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1983.75

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Jizō is well known for rescuing people from the many Buddhist hells.

Description

This painting depicts the bodhisattva Jizō—an enlightened being who refuses entry into nirvana in order to aid other beings in their quest for enlightenment—in the guise of a monk carrying a wish-fulfilling jewel and a golden staff with a finial adorned with jingling rings. He descends with each of his feet balanced atop a lotus pedestal borne by clouds to rescue a suffering believer who has called out for his help. Images of the Welcoming Descent of Jizō may be related to the Kasuga Shrine, where Jizō corresponds to the kami (Shinto deity) of the third shrine.

Citations
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. 291; Mentioned: p. 288-291 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

Nara National Museum, Japan (2/21-3/29/98); Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo (4/28-6/21/98) "Highlights of Asian Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art" p.85, cat. no. 54
Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119); March 12, 2003 - July 16, 2003.
Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). Tokyo National Museum (1/15/2014 - 2/23/2014) and Kyushu National Museum (7/8/2014 - 8/31/2014): "Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art", cat. no. 3, p. 30.

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 235); July 20, 2015 -

The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).

Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).

Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).

Japanese and Korean Gallery Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (July 6, 2015-January 4, 2016).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.75