Ten Rakan Examining a Painting of White-Robed Kannon

Katō Nobukiyo

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A close look at this picture reveals an extraordinary technical feat: every single element—figures, architecture, tree, even shading—is delineated in tiny Chinese characters that spell out a section of the Lotus Sutra. At once an artistic tour de force and a demonstration of remarkable religious piety, it was created by Katō Nobukiyo, a minor government official who took Buddhist vows in his early fifties. In 1788 he began creating a set of fifty-one painted scrolls. On all but one he painted ten rakan (enlightened followers of the Buddha); an image of the Buddha with attendant bodhisattvas appears on the fifty-first. In 1792 he dedicated the complete set (including this work) to Ryūkōji, temple in Edo (present-day Tokyo).

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