Shiga Prefecture, with its abundant natural beauty and rich history, is home to scores of cultural assets that have been handed down throughout the prefecture. To introduce those treasures from the Shiga region more broadly, our museum is co-hosting a special collaborative exhibition with the Museum of Shiga Prefecture Biwako Bunkakan, as part of our standing exhibition.
Since its opening in 1961, the Museum of Shiga Prefecture Biwako Bunkakan (the Biwako Bunkakan) has surveyed, researched, displayed, and conserved regional cultural resources. In this exhibition, the focus is on Buddhist statues from Shofuku-ji Temple, a notable temple in Konan city, that are on deposit with the Biwako Bunkakan. They are joined by paintings and craft works that express the nature of Shiga, which has nurtured such invaluable cultural assets, from the collections of our museum and the Biwako Bunkakan.
The Seated Dainichi Nyorai (Important Cultural Property), the main focus of devotion at Shofuku-ji Temple, is among the oldest Garbhadhatu Dainichi Nyorai statues in Japan. Created in the Heian period (794-1185), it is a hibutsu, a Buddhist statute not usually shown to the general public. This exhibit of it is the first in thirty-three years and the very first outside the temple. In addition, the exhibition will include a special display of the Seated Fudo Myoo (Important Cultural Property) from Zensui-ji Temple, also in Konan. This sculpture was created in the same period as the Seated Dainichi Nyorai and is thought to be extremely closely related to it.
To express Shiga’s cultural and natural climate, the exhibition also includes, paintings from the Muromachi through the Edo periods (1338-1868) depicting the lavish waters of Lake Biwa, the deep green of the mountains, and festivals in Shiga, plus Shigaraki ceramics from the Momoyama period (1574-1600).
We hope that you will enjoy this collaborative performance between Buddhist images over a thousand years old and everlasting scenes of Shiga.