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Bezig met laden... The Face of Jizo: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhismdoor Hank Glassman
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"Farther on, I find other figures of Jizo, single reliefs, sculptured upon tombs. But one of these is a work of art so charming that I feel a pain at being obliged to pass it by. More sweet, assuredly, than any imaged Christ, this dream in white stone of the playfellow of dead children, like a beautiful young boy, with gracious eyelids half closed, and face made heavenly by such a smile as only Buddhist art could have imagined, the smile of infinite lovingness and supremest gentleness. Indeed, so charming the ideal of Jizo is that in the speech of the people a beautiful face is always likened to his--'Jizo-kao,' as the face of Jizo." --Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan (1894) Stone images of the Buddhist deity Jizo--bedecked in a red cloth bib and presiding over offerings of flowers, coins, candles, and incense--are a familiar sight throughout Japan. Known in China as a savior from hell's torment, Jizo in Japan came to be utterly transformed through fusion with the local tradition of kami worship and ancient fertility cults. In particular, the Jizo cult became associated with gods of borders or transitions: the stone gods known as dosojin. Although the study of Jizo is often relegated to the folkloric, Hank Glassman, in this highly original and readable book, demonstrates that the bodhisattva's cult was promoted and embraced at the most elite levels of society. The Face of Jizo explores the stories behind sculptural and painted images of Jizo to reveal a fascinating cultural history. Employing the methodologies of the early twentieth-century renegade art historian Aby Warburg, Glassman's focus on the visual culture of medieval Japanese religion is not concerned with the surface form or iconographical lineages of Jizo's images, but with the social, ritual, and narrative contexts that bring the icons to life. He skillfully weaves together many elements of the Jizo cult--doctrine, ritual, cosmology, iconography--to animate the images he examines. Thus The Face of Jizo is truly a work of iconology in the Warburgian sense. Glassman's choice to examine the cult of Jizo through the medium of the icon makes for a most engaging and approachable history of this "most Japanese" of Buddhist deities. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)294.3Religions Other Religions Religions of Indic origin BuddhismLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Some of the most interesting material in the book pertained to the non-institutional religious landscape. For example, the Hachitataki ("gourd-beaters") who were known for processing through graveyards, banging gourds, carrying staves with antlers on top, while chanting the nenbutsu. (They were also responsible for spreading certain forms of the Jizo cult through song). Similarly interesting were the female religious specialists, often from a disadvantaged class, who were often involved in the forefront of Japanese religious movements. Both of these subjects are ones I will definitely follow up on in the future.
Unfortunately, (as Brendan noted before me), the book suffers from a lack of critical scaffolding, including conclusion, to really make a coherent set of points. As it is, the book is a collection of information brought together from disparate sources, and the work of critical integration is mostly left to the reader. Because of that, I might have to read through this one once more to pick up some details I might have missed.
Nonetheless, this book has so much to offer to anybody interested in Japanese religion, Buddhism, art history, or how communities can form around ideas and objects. ( )