Japan

Tōdai-ji’s Heavenly King Bishamonten Postcard

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Hidden among the treasures of Nara’s Tōdai-ji stands a fierce guardian: Bishamonten, the Heavenly King of the North. Clad in armor with eyes blazing, this towering 4.2-meter cypress statue exemplifies the remarkable craftsmanship of thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhist sculpture.

Bishamonten, adapted from the Indian deity Vaiśravaṇa, is foremost a “demon subduer who subjugates maleficent entities,” and by extension serves as a protector of the Buddhist teachings and of the rulers who uphold them. In Japan, he also came to be revered as a patron deity of warriors.

This postcard was published by Tōdai-ji, the historically powerful temple complex in the ancient capital of Nara. It was likely issued as part of a souvenir set in the late 1930s. The small emblem in the stamp box depicts the great fish-shaped roof ornament crowning the temple’s main hall.

In his hand Bishamonten holds a miniature pagoda, a reliquary associated with the relics of the Buddha. The object underscores his role as a guardian of the Buddhist teachings, while also reflecting his parallel identity as a protector of treasure and bestower of prosperity.

For this reason, Bishamonten is also venerated as one of Japan’s Seven Gods of Good Fortune. For more on the many roles of Bishamonten, see Bernard Faure, Gods of Medieval Japan: Protectors and Predators (2015).

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Herbert Ponting’s Flute Playing Komusō Stereoview

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The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) fueled Western demand for new images of a rapidly modernizing Japan. Among the companies meeting this demand was H. C. White, which issued boxed stereoview sets of Japan highlighting both its cultural traditions and signs of modern progress.

This photograph was taken by the seasoned stereophotographer Herbert Ponting, who had produced Japan sets for other studios, including H. C. Graves and Underwood. The scene depicts the front gate of Chion-in, the head monastery of the Pure Land sect founded by Hōnen in the 12th century.

The accompanying description reads like a guided tour of the temple grounds, lending narrative weight to the immersive “virtual reality” effect of stereophotography. It blends historical context with vivid visual detail, inviting viewers to examine the scene closely.

Compositional touches, such as the tourist seated in a pulled rickshaw, reinforce Japan’s presentation as a traveler’s paradise for Western audiences.

At the center stand komusō, “monks of nothingness,” recognizable by their basket hats and their playing of the bamboo shakuhachi during begging rounds.

In the West, shakuhachi performance is often linked to a Zen-like moment of spiritual awakening – an interpretation largely absent from Japanese historical practice. For more, see Max Deeg, “Komusō and Shakuhachi-Zen: From Historical Legitimation to the Spiritualisation” (2007).

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Kimbei’s Five Hundred Arhats of Zenpō-ji Photograph

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Founded in the 10th century, Zenpō-ji, a Sōtō Zen monastery, is renowned for the protective prayers its resident priests chant each day. The temple is also famous for its remarkable collection of more than five hundred arhat statues, each carved with a distinct facial expression.

Arhats, the Awakened disciples of the Buddha, are regarded in East Asia as protectors of the Buddha’s teaching. Zenpō-ji, located near Tsuruoka in northeast Japan, has 531 unique arhat statues that were carved in the early 1850s.

The back of the mount bears a second photo of the Drum Bridge at Sumiyoshi in Osaka, suggesting this page was extracted from a tourist album of photographs. This hand-painted photo is attributed to Kusakabe Kimbei and dates to the 1890s; the photo of Zenpō-ji may also be a Kimbei print.

According to the temple, visitors are encouraged to look among the statues for one whose features resemble those of a deceased relative and to make offerings before it.

All 531 arhat statues were recently restored and repainted. For an informative introduction to Zenpō-ji and a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration process, see the temple’s video viewable here: https://tinyurl.com/4cefw6xp.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Nagoya Railroad’s Shūrakuen Daibutsu Postcard

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Decades before Godzilla, the 1934 “monster” film, The Great Buddha Arrival, featured a costumed actor as a giant Buddha roaming through a miniature city. The figure was based on the recently completed Shūrakuen Daibutsu, a colossal statue erected in 1927 near Nagoya.

The statue was not cast in traditional bronze, but was made of reinforced concrete, reflecting the growing preference for modern, durable construction materials. Businessman Yamada Saikichi originally built the 19 m (62 ft) statue to commemorate the marriage of Emperor Shōwa.

The Shūrakuen Daibutsu was also built during a period of expanding domestic tourism, soon becoming a regional attraction. Nagoya Railroad Co. issued this postcard in the late 1930s, a marketing strategy among railway companies seeking to stimulate interest in rail travel.

A pair of monumental guardian figures, like those traditionally found at the entrances to Buddhist temples, were also erected on the grounds. Because they were made of concrete rather than metal, these statues survived wartime metal requisition policies and still stand in the park today.

When completed, the Shūrakuen Daibutsu was the tallest colossal Buddha statue in Japan—four meters taller than the Nara Daibutsu—making it a natural choice to be brought to life on screen in The Great Buddha Arrival.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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World in Cincinnati Japan Scene Postcard

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In 1911, to promote efforts of American missionaries abroad, an arm of the missions board sponsored a massive traveling exhibit of the world’s religions. The “Japan Scene” was dominated by a replica of a Buddhist temple, traveling from Boston to Cincinnati and elsewhere.

Flanked by shops and scenes of everyday Japanese life, the exhibit was considered an exercise in immersive visual educational. Partition walls were painted with panoramic views of distant locales such as Mt. Fuji and lotus ponds to further create a sense of virtual travel.

A variety of print ephemera, such as maps, posters, and postcards, were sold as souvenirs and visual learning aids to visitors. The superimposed label printed on front of this real photo post card helps identify it as from the “World in Cincinnati,” similar to other known examples.

In Cincinnati, the replicated foreign lands were populated by more than 5000 stewards from more than 200 local churches portraying native peoples.

While some replicated scenes were decorated with authentic religious imagery, Japan’s icon appears to be recreated with wood or plaster. For more about missionary exhibits, see April Makgoeng’s “Visualizing Missions: The Power of the Image in Promoting Foreign Missions” (2021).

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Esaki Reiji’s Pilgrims with Portable Shrine Photograph

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While temple visitors might view Buddhist images as immovable fixtures, Meiji-era photography reveals the remarkable portability of Buddhist icons. Here we see a pair of Japanese pilgrims with their portable shrine traveling through Nikko, a sign of Buddhist faith on the move.

The studio stock number (362) is currently unattributed, but fits within a sequence of numbers for photos taken in Nikko by Esaki Reiji, likely in the late 1880s or 1890s. Esaki was a prominent souvenir album photographer in Asakusa, a tourist-friendly area of Tokyo.

As described by Chun-Wa Chan, portable Buddhist shrines were already in use by the 5th century in the region of Gandhara and were introduced into Japan a few centuries later. Portable Japanese shrines (zushi) were often ornately decorated and fitted with doors to conceal the icon inside.

Pilgrims would carry the frame on their backs as they moved from one location to the next. A large bell rests in a basket hung off the side, ready to be struck by a mallet held in the pilgrim’s hand on the left. His other hand holds a long string of mala beads.

Obscured by flower offerings, the Buddhist icon sits at just above eye level in the shrine. For more on this topic, see Chan’s “Portable Faith: Toward a Non-Site-Specific History of Buddhist Art in Japan,” viewable here: https://tinyurl.com/3tde394d.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Bosselman’s Mt. Penn Pagoda Postcard

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Sitting atop the southern end of Mount Penn, a seven-story wooden pagoda has overlooked Reading, Pennsylvania, since 1908. Built as part of a luxury resort, the building and land were donated to the city in 1911, making this Buddhist-inspired building a symbol of the city.

William Abbott Witman decided to construct a “Japanese pagoda” in an attempt to cover the scars of his quarrying operation on Mount Penn. After failing to obtain a liquor license, the plan to build a full resort was abandoned and the pagoda became the property of the residents of Reading.

One story claims the pagoda was modeled on a photograph (others say a postcard) of the Nagoya Castle in Japan; another yet claims it was based on an amusement park attraction in Coney Island (see Coney Island Postcard here: https://tinyurl.com/m3vshkz4).

Once opened to the public, the building interior showcased murals of Asia and articles from Japan, including a large Japanese temple bell Witman purchased and had shipped through the Suez Canal. While many of the artifacts are now lost, the temple bell still remains an attraction.

For a brief history of this site, see Michelle Nicholl Lynch’s “The Pagoda,” The Historical Review of Berks County (1995), viewable here: https://berkshistory.org/article/the-pagoda/.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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T. H. McAllister’s Kamakura Daibutsu Lantern Slide

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By the 1890s it was possible to browse American newspapers and see advertisements for informal lectures on countries around the world. Occupying church halls or town theaters, returning travelers often used “magic lantern” slides to illustrate their gripping travel narratives.

A typical trans-Pacific cruise of the era would port in Yokohama, a short day trip away from the colossal Kamakura Daibutsu. An image projected onto a wall or screen would enliven the presentation and provide visual details impossible to elaborate through words alone.

As the Victorian era progressed, there was increasing demand for visual education and moral entertainments, and the illustrated travelogue reflected such interests. We might find the past splendor of Asia, as seen through it monuments, contrasted with its then-current political strife.

By 1887 T. H. McAllister was selling a set of 61 slides for a stock presentation entitled, “Around the World in 80 Minutes.” For a total of $30.25, the slides and lecture notes could be purchased by an aspiring lecturer so as to be “well prepared to describe the various scenes intelligently.”

Beginning in England and ending in Washington DC, the Kamakura Daibutsu is the only Buddhist location visited during the lecture. For more on the importance of travel lecturers in spreading information about Asia, see Jeanette Roan’s Envisioning Asia (2010).

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Sakaeya’s Shinkōji Vairocana Buddha Postcard

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The Japanese port city of Kobe was a major tourist hub by the turn of the 20th century. One if the city’s main attractions was a giant statue of Vairocana Buddha displayed outside the main temple gate of Shinkōji until the complex was destroyed during WWII.

Documents record the height of the statue at 4.8 meters (16 feet). It sat atop an elevated pedestal in the middle of a lotus pond which was used as a habitat for rescued turtles. Behind the plastered wall we see the tiled roofs of the bell tower and main hall.

Unlike many Japanese postcards of the era, this is not a photomechanical print, but a chemically processed “real photo” postcard likely released in the early 1920s. The publisher, Sakaeya & Co., was based in Kobe and focused on cards depicting the environs of the bustling port city.

Notably, the Japanese caption provides more commentary on the religious relevance of the site than the English. It notes that Shinkōji was a sacred location where the Buddhist priest Ippen (1239–1289), known for his devotion to the Pure Land, passed away.

The temple was noted as being “worth a visit” by the widely circulated third edition of Murray’s Handbook for Travelers in Japan, published in 1891. Fifty years later, the statue was destroyed by allied firebomb attacks on Kobe in March 1945.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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William Hurd’s Treading on the Crucifix Engraving

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In the 17th century, to uncover suspected Christians, Japanese authorities in Nagasaki forced commoners to step on an image of Jesus or Mary. As knowledge of this practice spread to Europe, depictions of “treading on the crucifix,” appeared in illustrated works by the 18th century.

To ferret out “hidden Christians,” local villagers were forced to commit blasphemy by stepping on icons sacred to Christianity; such objects were called fumi-e 踏絵, or “images for stomping.” If anyone refused, authorities turned to torture to procure apostasy, or they were killed.

Stories of this practice circulated in popular European literature, such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) and Voltaire’s Candide (1759). For European Christians, such actions were perceived as a vile act of paganism, reflected in this engraving by a buddha with devil horns.

This image of a horned buddha is placed at the crown of the page as an ornamental embellishment. William Hurd’s New Universal History (1780) copied the main engraving from an older work, but added this detail to help further contextualize the depicted activity as demonic.

Unexpectedly, Hurd blames, in part, the proselytizing activities of the Jesuits who still placed importance in Christian icons. Had they taught the “simple truth, without the use of images,” Hurd implies the Japanese may have embraced Christianity, turning away from idolatry altogether.

This use of fumi-e continued until 1858 when it was formally abandoned. To read a scientific analysis of historical paper-made fumi-e, see Montanari et al., “Kami Fumi-e: Japanese Paper Images to Be Trampled on—A Mystery Resolved” (2025), here: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/8/2/78.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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