Guardian King of the North (Bishamonten) (1185–1333): Art, History and Details

Guardian King of the North (Bishamonten) (1185–1333) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In Buddhism, Bishamonten is one of four kings who protect the cardinal directions. He stands with a stupa symbolizing the Buddhist teachings and relics of the Buddha in the palm of his left hand, and a spear to foil the enemies of Buddhism in his right. He crushes a demon beneath his feet.

Object facts

• Title: Guardian King of the North (Bishamonten)
• Date: 1185–1333
• Culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: wood with gold polychromy
• Dimensions: Overall: 76.8 x 28.6 cm (30 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.); Base: 5.2 cm (2 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1959.135

Collection credit

James Parmelee and Cornelia Blakemore Warner Funds

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ikeda, Shōtarō 池田庄太郎. Kobijutsu shūho: Ikeda Daisendō 古美術集芳: 池田大仙堂. Kyōto: Yamamoto Koshū, 1941.
• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 10 (December 1959): 210–231.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Divine: And the Terrible.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 1 (January 1961): 5–9.

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.