Cleveland Museum of Art

En no Gyōja with Zenki and Kōki (En no Gyōja)

Date

1615–1868

Medium

wood with paint

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This is one of a trio of figures identified as Enno Gyoja and his two attendants, Zenki and Kōki. The set follows the iconography of Shugendo , the traditional mountain ascetic practice in Japan. Enno Gyoja is depicted as a hermit-monk, seated on a rock attached to a modern base. He holds a staff in his right hand and a sutra in the left. The two attendants take the form of half-human, half-demonic figures and are regarded as a married couple. These figures' miniaturized format allowed them to be portable devotional statuettes that worshipers could carry as they traveled.

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