Zaō Gongen (1200s): Art, History and Details

Zaō Gongen (1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Zaō Gongen is the guardian deity of Mount Kinpu in Yoshino south of Nara. Zaō appeared at the behest of En no Gyōja, who prayed for a powerful protector of the mountain. The deity was described as a combined manifestation of the Buddha Shakyamuni, Thousand-Armed Kannon, and Miroku. These three deities were viewed as the past, present, and future protectors of the world. Zaō’s appearance derives from portrayals of fierce Buddhist deities.

Object facts

• Title: Zaō Gongen
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: wood
• Dimensions: Average: 106.7 cm (42 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1973.105

A detail from the museum

Zaō Gongen wears the pelt of a large feline, the face of which is near his knee.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ikawa, Kazuko. "Statues of Zao Gongen and Kongo Doji." Bijutsu Kenkyu [美術硏究 = The journal of art studies], no. 252, May 1967.
• “The Year in Review for 1973.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 2 (1974): 31–79.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.