Exhibition ‘Omi: Spiritual Home of Kami and Hotoke – Seta, Shigaraki and Otsu’ Opened

The exhibition titled ‘Omi: Spiritual Home of Kami and Hotoke’ opened, which showcased Buddhist and Shinto artifacts from Shiga Prefecture across three venues simultaneously: the exhibition titled ‘The Path to Tendai Buddhism – In Search of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha –’ was held at MIHO MUSEUM in Shigaraki (September 3 – December 11); the exhibition titled ‘Inori no kuni, Ōmi no butsuzō – Kodai kara chūsei e’ was held at the Shiga Prefectural Museum of Modern Art in Seta (September 17 – November 20); and the exhibition titled ‘Hiyoshi no kami to matsuri’ was held at the Otsu City Museum of History in Ōtsu (October 8 – November 23). The Ōmi region, where mountains encircle Lake Biwa, fostered ancient beliefs revering nature. When Buddhism was introduced from outside of Japan, Buddhist art flourished centered Mount Hiei. The exhibition ‘The Path to Tendai Buddhism’ featured 104 works organized into eight chapters: ‘The Passing of Shakyamuni’; ‘Cause and Effect of the Birth of Shakyamuni’; ‘Mahayana Bodhisattvas’; ‘Buddhas in Various Paradises’; ‘A Universe Filled with Buddhas’; ‘Buddhism in the Nara Period’; ‘Lotus Sutra and Saicho’; and ‘After Saicho and the Rise of Tendai Esotericism’. The exhibition ‘Inori no kuni, Ōmi no butsuzō’ displayed 57 Buddhist statues from the early Heian period to the Muromachi period. The exhibition ‘Hiyoshi no kami to matsuri’ presented 101 works across two chapters: ‘Kamigami no sugata (The Forms of the Deities)’ and ‘Hiyoshi sannōsai (The Hiyoshi Sannō Festival)’. The exhibitions served to impress upon visitors the richness of Shinto and Buddhist art in the Ōmi region. They also drew attention as an initiative where three neighboring museums presented simultaneously held exhibitions under the same theme. (Japanese)