Esashi Local Culture Museum
Main Image Chuzen Kannon (group of 101 Kannon statues) Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Impression TagsSolemnityWarmthDepth
DescriptionChuzen Kannon, permanently displayed in the “Okunoin” section of the Esashi Local Culture Museum, is a group of 101 Kannon statues: 100 images representing the Saigoku Thirty-Three Kannon, Bando Thirty-Three Kannon, and Chichibu Thirty-Four Kannon pilgrimages, plus a large seated Sho Kannon. They were commissioned in the mid-Edo period by successive heads of the wealthy farming Suzuki family of Ikawa Village in Kesen District and were produced mainly by Buddhist sculptors in Kyoto. Originally enshrined in the Suzuki family’s Uho-do Hall, the group was entrusted in 1911 to the Obara family of the merchant house “Chuzen” in Esashi Iwayado. Today all 101 statues are displayed together, creating a distinctive space that evokes a pilgrimage through Japan’s three major Kannon circuits by means of Buddhist images. Each year on November 3, a traditional Chuzen Kannon unveiling ceremony is also held.
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