Buddhists all over the world rejoice some great benefits of worshipping Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), a compassionate savior who's the most liked within the Buddhist pantheon. while Kannon appears to be like in a number of manifestations, the deity’s powers are believed to extend to even larger heights. this idea generated a number of cults all through heritage: one of the most vital is the cult of the Six Kannon, which begun in Japan within the 10th century and remained famous during the 16th century. during this formidable paintings, Sherry Fowler examines the improvement of the japanese Six Kannon cult, its sculptures and work, and its transition to the Thirty-three Kannon cult, which continues to be energetic to this day.

An exemplar of Six Kannon imagery is the total set of life-size wood sculptures made in 1224 and housed on the Kyoto temple Daihōonji. This set, besides others, is analyzed to illustrate how Six Kannon worship impacted Buddhist perform. making use of a diachronic technique, Fowler offers case reports starting within the 11th century to reinstate a context for units of Six Kannon, the vast majority of which were misplaced or scattered, and hence illuminates the vibrancy, importance, and distribution of the cult and complements our wisdom of non secular image-making in Japan.

Kannon’s function in supporting beings trapped within the six paths of transmigration is a well-documented catalyst for the choice of the quantity six, yet there are different major subject matters at paintings. Six Kannon worship contains major foci on worldly matters comparable to childbirth and animal husbandry, ties among textual content and photograph, and various correlations with Shinto kami teams of six. whereas making teams of Kannon obvious, Fowler explores the fluidity of numerical deity categorizations and the makes an attempt to quantify the invisible. furthermore, her research finds Kyushu as a particularly lively website within the background of the Six Kannon cult. a lot as Kannon photos as soon as functioned to draw worshippers, their presentation during this e-book will attract modern readers to revisit their assumptions approximately East Asia’s most well-liked Buddhist deity.