Description
This lion was once the mount for an image of the bodhisattva Monju (Skt. Mañjuśrī). Its legs are positioned with sublime balance and rendered naturalistically. The muscles swell ever so slightly, as if the lion is poised to pounce. The image is rich with the sense of breathing realism and vitality that characterizes statues of the Kamakura period (1185–1333). It is one of the foremost masterworks of animal statuary in the history of Japanese Buddhist sculpture.
The figure was originally employed as the animal pedestal for a statue of Monju Bosatsu (Skt. Mañjuśrī). The body was painted with blue and the hair was painted with green. The cut gold leaf was streaked on the hair. The figure was well expressed characteristics of the feline beast, such as finely balanced four legs and the accurate angle of the joints, as well as the delicately raised muscle.
Data source
ColBase
"ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan" is a service that enables a multi-database search of the collections in the four national museums (To...
Contents holder/Provider
Aggregator
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
The National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH) comprise four National Museums (Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum) and two National Research Institutes for Cultural Properties (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), as well as the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in Sakai City, for a total of seven institutions.
Last updated
May 25, 2026