Demon Intoning the Name of the Buddha
Unknown Artist
1700s
Medium
hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
Dimensions
painting only: 59.2 × 22.1 cm · including mounting: 126.4 × 33 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1982.26
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Images like this one that depicts a demon in the guise of an itinerant monk intoning the name of the Buddha are called Otsu-e, or "Otsu paintings." Otsu-e were made as souvenirs for travelers passing through the station of Otsu along the Tokaido, the route stretching from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto. Realized through a combination of woodblock printing, rapid brushstrokes, embellishment with color and gold pigments by stencil or by hand, the earliest Otsu-e, produced in the 17th century, wer...