Guardian Figure: Nio (1200s): Art, History and Details

Guardian Figure: Nio (1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A pair of guardians usually stands at the entrance of Japanese Buddhist temples. Traditionally, the pair included a closed-mouth figure, one hand displayed as if indicating his potential power, and an open-mouth figure, expelling his full force against evil spirits. Nio figures were usually displayed outdoors, often with just the roof of the entrance gate as protection, and as such were particularly susceptible to weathering.

Object facts

• Title: Guardian Figure: Nio
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: chestnut and cypress
• Dimensions: Overall: 167.9 cm (66 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1972.158.2

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1972.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 60, no. 3, 1973, pp. 63–115.
• Nippon no bijutsu (November 1972), no. 78.
• Shōichi Uehara. "Wooden Statues of Vajrapāni." Kobijutsu 古美術 (December 1972), no. 39, pp. 111–113.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.