Mandala of the Three Shrines at Kumano

1300s

Mandala of the Three Shrines at Kumano, 1300s. Japan, Kamakura period (1185-1333) to Nanbokuchō period (1336-92). Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk; image: 134 x 62 cm (52 3/4 x 24 7/16 in.); overall: 217.2 x 80 cm (85 1/2 x 31 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1953.16 This painting depicts the three shrines of Kumano from a bird’s-eye perspective, with the Buddhist counterparts of the kami of each shrine hall shown in discs directly above the halls. It also features figures, both pilgrims and deities, along the pilgrimage route and at the shrines. It is the only surviving work illustrating architectural representations of all three shrines in the same painting. They are compressed into a stacked composition, with the Nachi shrine at the top, the Shingū in the middle, and the Hongū at the bottom. The sacred waterfall at the top right of the painting is called Nachi.