Rijksmuseum

Shotoku Taishi

Date

c. 1200 - c. 1350

Medium

wood (plant material)

Culture

Japan

Institution

Rijksmuseum

Buddhism took hold in Japan in the middle of the 6th century. Around 600, the statesman Shotoku Taishi was a major advocate of the new religion. He would later be revered as a deity himself. Here Shotoku Taishi is represented as a child of two, the age at which he is traditionally believed to have worshipped Buddha for the first time. The sculptor has successfully rendered a childlike face, but one that nonetheless conveys great wisdom.

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