Portable Shrine with Statuette of the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Senju Kannon Bosatsu)

The statuette in this black-lacquered portable shrine is the most dramatic of the thirty-three manifestations of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Kannon). This form of the deity, theoretically having 1,000 eyes and 1,000 hands, emphasizes the compassion that sees suffering and acts to relieve it with great efficacy. This manifestation of Avalokitesvara originated in India during the 7th century, but the earliest surviving images are Chinese from the 10th century. Since it is difficult to portray 1,000 arms, small images usually show the figure with two or four arms in front and no more than forty arms on the sides. The interior of the shrine is painted with gold, and the doors are decorated with lotus pond designs, alluding to the Western Paradise of the Pure Land (Jodo) sect of Buddhism.