Cleveland Museum of Art

Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva

Date

late 1100s

Medium

wood, lacquered and painted

Culture

Japan, Heian period (794–1185)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This ceremonial mask was used in a dramatic enactment of the descent of the Buddha Amida and his entourage to welcome the dying to his Pure Land. The mask represents the face of an enlightened being called a bodhisattva. Performances of the welcoming descent had begun by the early 11th century and continue at some temples today. The most famous welcoming descent procession happens each year on April 14 at the temple Taimadera in Nara.

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