1320 (ca.), [Japan], Welcoming Descent of Amitabha and Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)

From the museum label: This monumental painting visualizes a core idea of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism: the descent of Buddha Amitabha (or Amida in Japanese) to bring a deceased person back to the Pure Land, or Western Paradise. The painting's gold radiates the light associated with Amitabha, along with their retinue of bodhisattvas. Following a common practice of Buddhist paintings, gold and pigment were also applied to the back of the silk to increase the intensity and longevity. In the late eleventh century, the promise of divine assurance in Pure Land Buddhism became immensely popular in Japan in the wake of civil war and other calamities.

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