SOKAN

Painted in ink, pigments and gold on paper mounted on cloth on a wooden stretcher. A Taima mandala, depicting the Western Paradise in minute polychrome detail: Amida Nyorai, the Buddha of the Future, seated beneath a canopy with his hands in the preaching gesture, flanked by the Bodhisattvas Kannon and Seishi and 30 attendant deities on a tiled terrace. In front of Amida two of the newly born are presented by two smaller Bodhisattvas. Below the terrace a lotus pond with existing dwellers in the Western Paradise together with naked figures of the newly born, some of them on two richly decorated barges; below the lotus pond a dance stage with more of the newly born; on either side of the pond a large tree under which Amida sits preaching accompanied by other deities; behind and above the main Amida triad several other smaller Amida triads and other groups of celestial beings; on the left a column of rectangular cartouches containing an image of the Vulture Peak above scenes from the discovery and promulgation of the Kanmuryojukyo sutra; at the right another column of rectangular cartouches with images of the 13 contemplations preached by the historical Buddha; at the base of the composition a band of nine cartouches showing the nine stages of rebirth. A blue central panel signed and inscribed in gold paint: Bunka juichi seinen Sanshu Hidakamura Kaifukuji Sokan (Sokan, Kaifukuji Temple, Hidakamura Village, Mikawa Province, 11th year of Bunka and sealed Tomonobu.