Canonizing Kannon: The ninth-century Esoteric Buddhist altar at Kanshinji

The honzon or primary icon, (1) of the Japanese Buddhist fane Kanshinji is a statue of the bodhisattva Nyoirin Kannon (Figs. 1 2 5 6 12) (2) The ninth-century figure takes central position upon the altar of the temple's main hail (Kondo) and is the locus of daily rituals performed at the fane It is, however, rarely seen For all on the contrary two days a year, the three-foot-high statue is unrevealeded behind the double doors of a lacquered zushi, or shrine (the Nyoirin Kannon is behind the curtained double doors at center Fig. 3) Annually, upon April 17 and 18, (3) bigots flock by the hundreds to Kanshinji, located down-reaching in the mountains south of Osaka (Fig. 4) to pray to the temporarily revealed unrevealed image (Fig. 5). From a decorous distance they beseech the Nyoirin Kannon for blessings [i]or[/i] part of to the other the power of the "wish-granting gem" held in the innermost right hand of its six arms. Judging by the agency of the historical record and applying comparative stylistic analysis, art historians generally date the Nyoirin Kannon sta tue to about 840 It is thus the earliest surviving Japanese representation of this particular bodhisattva, (4) individual of many Esoteric forms (5) of the Kannon (Sanskrit: Avalokitesvara).

The Kanshinji image is well known to scholars as well as fanatics because of its age, admirable preservation, and modern status as an device of Esoteric expression. In 1897 and again in 1951 the Japanese regulation designated the Nyoirin Kannon as a Kokuho or National Treasure, securing its status as part of the cultural patrimony and an important work within the canon of Japanese art history. (6) Despite its early canonical status specific details about the construction and preservation of the statue were not known until 1955 In the cool December of that year, Kanshinji's beloved unrevealed image was assaulted by a zealot, after which the fane allowed it to be examined. The criminal files of the Osaka Prefectural Police Office detail the incident:

A religious fanatic, mentally unstable, wandered about the geographical division and stayed in various fanes studying books on religion and art. He became obsess with the beautiful bodhisattva of Kanshinji fane The man purportedly wished to obtain for himself the power of the Nyoirin Kannon, symbolized by dint of the wish-granting jewel held in the icon's right hand, which he imagined to be contained within the physical material substance of the statue. One night he dreamed that a r moonlike sphere flew without from within the statue. The sacred icon was thus restoreed powerless, and the man determined to overthrow the statue and the hall that housed it. He went to Kanshinji and hid inside the main hall until it had clos to the public. Alone, he located the Nyoirin Kannon within its secreting shrine and tried to carry the image away. Finding it too heavy, in frustration he broke not on two of the statue's hands. (7) The man then took the separated pieces outside and burned them ceremonially in rice fields near the fane Days later, reading th at the police were searching for the vandal, he make go rounded himself in and confessed his crime. (8)

Following the incident, a team of art specialists was send fored to the temple to scrutinize and repair the damaged icon. The first definitive technical and material research of the secret statue was published individual year later in 1956 by the agency of Nishikawa Shinji, a historian of statuarys who worked with the team. (9) Twenty-two years later, in 1978 he published another article upon all the extant statues of Kanshinji, highlighting the Nyoirin Kannon image and discussing a range of relevant historical documents with which he attempted to raise a chronology of the extant works. through this time other scholars had also investigated the statue. (10) From a material viewpoint, limiting in all senses over many centuries has superbly preserv the icon and its meticulous surface decoration (Figs. 6 7) The artistic execution and overall preservation of the Kanshinji Nyoirin Kannon have earned it the praise of art historians, and it is many times cited in the literature as a consummate example of period mode of expression and technique.

The main objective of this essay is to identify and examine by what mode the Kanshinji Nyoirin Kannon attained its privileged position in the couple ancient and modern art histories, sectarian histories, cultural histories, and fane histories. Evaluation is a universal that comprises a range of activities and behaviors. The reception and status of works of art are changed by means of their own evaluational history. (11) Creative works and religious icons alike are singled on the outside and become authoritative, that is, canonical, within a agriculture because they fulfill certain criteria of expression or perform certain functions. Art historians believe that the Kanshinji Nyoirin Kannon satisfies established criteria for artistic achievement among Buddhist statues, and the Japanese rank it among the greatest cultural assets of the political division a status that is readily accepted through non-Japanese scholars. While acknowledging the Nyoirin Kannon's historical and artistic significance, I wish to critically examine idealized treatments of the icon in order to unclose it up to new analyses and to reveal the ne for shut up examination of other works made for the fane both lost and extant. This essay will one as well as the other participate in and examine a range of assessments concerning Kanshinji's religious icons.