Fudō Myōō in Portable Shrine

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portable shrines containing diminutive Buddhist sculptures are frequently used as personal devotional icons. This statue of the King of Brightness Fudō the “Immovable” was once owned by the famous grand champion (yokozuna) sumo wrestler Hitachiyama Taniemon (1874–1922), who toured the United States and Europe in 1907–8. He fought a wrestling match in New York, at which time he presented the Museum with this shrine. Fudō would have been a deity with whom a powerful wrestler could identify, for his role within Japanese Esoteric Buddhism is to use his superior strength to fight the evil and ignorance that are obstacles to enlightenment.

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