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Kiyomizudera Temple Main Hall: Garuda
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Kiyomizudera Temple Main Hall: Garuda
JAPAN, Kyoto; Muromachi period (1392–1573); Cypress wood; H: 140 cm
The statue is located in the temple’s main hall. It depicts garuda and is assembled from several pieces of cypress wood which were painted and gilded. The garuda is one of the Twenty-Eight Classes of Dharma Protectors. The figure has a bird’s head and wings, a human body, and is playing the flute. It wears an openwork headdress featuring a Dharma wheel with a stupa above it. A flaming Dharma wheel nimbus frames the head from behind. The garuda is dressed in full armor and has a fluttering stole that rises in an arc behind the shoulders. The stole is buckled under a belt as it falls down the length of the body. |
