Kūkai
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
18th century wooden sculpture of the Buddhist monk Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan. He was born as Saeki no Mao in 774 and died in 835.
He was given the posthumous name Kōbō Daishi, which is the name heading the museum label for this piece of art, though the - at least for me - more familiar name of Kūkai appears later in the same text. The description actually calls him Kōbō Daishi (also known as Kūkai), in the English text, but says Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) in the Japanese. My guess is, though I might be wrong, that Kōbō Daishi is the more correct way to call him, but he is more familiar in Japan under the name Kūkai.
The age of the sculpture, made a thousand years after he was born, probably indicates that this shall not be taken as a real portrait of likeness but is rather meant to capture his essence.
Kūkai
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
18th century wooden sculpture of the Buddhist monk Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan. He was born as Saeki no Mao in 774 and died in 835.
He was given the posthumous name Kōbō Daishi, which is the name heading the museum label for this piece of art, though the - at least for me - more familiar name of Kūkai appears later in the same text. The description actually calls him Kōbō Daishi (also known as Kūkai), in the English text, but says Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) in the Japanese. My guess is, though I might be wrong, that Kōbō Daishi is the more correct way to call him, but he is more familiar in Japan under the name Kūkai.
The age of the sculpture, made a thousand years after he was born, probably indicates that this shall not be taken as a real portrait of likeness but is rather meant to capture his essence.