Edo Period, circa: 18th-19th century
H 5.25" (13.5cm.), W 5.25" (13.5cm.), D 3.75" (9.5cm.)
Condition: minor losses
Antique
Japanese wood statue with black lacquer and traces of gilding, gilded base with
red pigment details, worn with age but complete with no major losses. Depicting
Nichiren Daishonin (1222–1282) the embattled monk who crystallized the essence
of the lotus sutra. Nichiren is seated in meditation posture, with hands in the nebina gassho mudra, the clasp
of the firm and sincere heart. Nicely carved with flowing robes and floral embroideries.
Because
he denounced religious practices of his day, Nichiren angered both the priesthood
and the government, and was arrested and taken without a trial to the execution
ground in Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded. The Daishonin readied himself at the place
of execution, but the moment the executioner raised his sword a brilliant flash
of light came from the direction of Enoshima Island, blinding the executioner,
who dropped to the ground. The other soldiers fell from their horses or rode away.
No one was able to take the Daishonin's life. Instead he was exiled and continued
in his path. He wrote:
How
can a person like myself win release from sorrow? I find myself recalling
the poet of old who hoped that because he was a humble-hearted dweller
in the mountains he might be free of such sadness. Now, gathering together
my thoughts as the men of Naniwa gather seaweed to extract salt, I give
them form with my writing brush as a memento for people in later ages.
… even a single phrase cherished deep in one's heart will without fail
help one reach the opposite shore. To ponder one phrase and practice it
is to exercise navigation. Only the ship of nam myoho-renge-kyo enables
one to cross the sea of the sufferings of birth and death