Prince Shōtoku at Age Sixteen

Toba Sōjō

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Imaginary portraits and legends about the life of Prince Shōtoku (574–622), the foremost proponent of Buddhism in Japan, emerged soon after his death. Based on the prince’s mid-Heian-period biography, this painting portrays him in a form in which he was often revered as a deified historical figure: at the age of sixteen, he prayed for his father, Emperor Yōmei (518–587), to recover from illness. The pose, which belongs to a category of portraiture known as kōyō-zō (images of filial piety), appears in both paintings and sculptures of young Shōtoku, which make up nearly half his extant portraits. Dressed in a monk’s robe, he holds a censer; his hair is arranged in the two loops of a youth and frames boyish, idealized features.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art