Luring the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Out of a Cave with Music; Death of the Historical Buddha

Kōno Bairei

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kōno Bairei juxtaposes two images at the heart of modern Japan’s most prominent belief systems, Shinto and Buddhism. At right is Amaterasu, the Shinto Sun Goddess who, after bringing total darkness to heaven and earth by shutting herself in a cave, has to be lured out by her own reflection to restore light and life to the world. At left is the Buddha’s final death, or parinirvana, depicted in gold paint on a dark black ground. Though Buddhism and Shinto (as well as other faiths) were in dialogue throughout the premodern history of Japan, in the 1870s, the newly reinstalled imperial government sought to clarify—and separate—them. Also, government efforts at modern nation-building led to the development of nationalized arts education. Kōno Bairei helped establish and taught at Japan’s first public university devoted to the study of art.

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