Title: Amida Shoju Raigozu and Ni so Nandara (The Descent of Amida and Ten Attendants, and Two Patriarch Mandala), Circa 1650-1750. Two Paintings of the Welcoming Descent of the Amida Nyorai and Ten Bodhisattva Attendants, and the Mandala of the Two Patriarchs and Two Bodhisattvas
Condition: Fair
Two Early to Mid Edo Period, or mid 17th to 18th century paintings depicting two unique, yet related paintings. The first is that of the Amida Shoju Raigozu, also known as the Welcoming Descent of the Amida Nyorai and Ten Bodhisattva Attendants, and the Ni so Nandara, the Two Ancestor Patriarchs.
The Welcoming Descent features a central figure of the Amida Nyorai, flanked on either side by Kannon Bodhisattva on the left and Seishi Bodhisattva on the right. Additionally, 8 more attendants follow along, playing celestial music on various instruments.
The Bodhisattvas serve as attendants at the forefront sweeping to earth on a bank of silvery clouds. They have arrived to "welcome" a dying devotee into the Pure Land (Western Paradise) over which Amida Buddha presides. It is based on the Sutra of Immeasurable Life and the Sutra of Contemplation of Immeasurable Life. Kannon Bodhisattva is the incarnation of Amida Nyorai's "compassion," while Seishi Bodhisattva is the incarnation of "wisdom." Kannon Bodhisattva, the attendant, represents Amida's kebutsu (a Buddha transformed into a Buddha) in front of the topknot on top of his head, and Seishi Bodhisattva represents a water jar in the same position, so the two attendants are relatively easy to distinguish from each other. Raigo or "welcoming descent" paintings of this kind became popular during the late Heian (eleventh through twelfth centuries) and Kamakura (1185-1333) periods, with numerous copies made through later periods.
The raigō theme, first originating in China, was introduced to Japan by the monk Ennin (794-864) in the ninth century and made popular with the teachings of the monk Genshin (942-1017) during the eleventh century.
As for the Two Patriarch Mandala, we can see what look to be portraits of Master Zendo, the master of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, and Honen, the founder of the Japanese Jodo sect, with two Bodhisattvas above them. One of them looks to be Jizo Bodhisattva.
The paintings have been neatly mounted onto brocade decorated kakejiku (hanging scroll), with jikusaki (knobs) made of lacquered wood.
Two paintings mounted on a kakejiku (hanging scroll), 129 x 48 cm full size, 62 x 34 and cm 55.5 x 34 main paintings of Descent and Mandala
These paintings are in fair shape, with minor rubbing and wear to the canvas and brocade. The paintings are cracked and stained quite a bit, with one of the faces in the Patriarch Mandala partially obscured. The paints used to decorate the vestments and clouds of the paintings have dulled with age and poor preservation, heaviest to the Raigo painting.