two sheets configured vertically; man with hands folded and head bowed, being pulled upward by the back of his black shirt through a cloud, with only his upper body visible through the cloud; red-skinned shirtless figure with curly brown hair, wearing white flowing cloths around his neck, arms and waist, with a green and brown loincloth, holding a gold staff, pulling on man's shirt; standing topless woman at top of cloud, with long flowing hair, folding a white flower on a very long stem, wearing blue skirt with yellow flowers, yellow belt and purple and yellow flowered garment around one shoulder

Picture of Mongaku’s Penitence, April 1885

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This is the same motif as a triptych nearby that Yoshitoshi designed 25 years earlier, showing the monk Mongaku doing penance for 21 days under the icy waterfall at Mount Nachi. Instead of showing him reciting incantations to the deity Fudō Myō-ō, Yoshitoshi depicted Mongaku this time in the moment of his collapse when he is rescued by the deity’s child attendants, Seitaka and Kongara. In the earlier triptych, Yoshitoshi captured foamy water with white spume but here renders the water like a cloud to emphasize that the divine beings have restored calm.

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Details
Title
Picture of Mongaku’s Penitence
Artist Life
1839 - 1892
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2017.106.159a,b
Catalogue Raisonne
Keyes, Courage and Silence (1982), no. 469; Iwakiri, Yoshitoshi (2014), fig. 212, p. 291.
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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two sheets configured vertically; man with hands folded and head bowed, being pulled upward by the back of his black shirt through a cloud, with only his upper body visible through the cloud; red-skinned shirtless figure with curly brown hair, wearing white flowing cloths around his neck, arms and waist, with a green and brown loincloth, holding a gold staff, pulling on man's shirt; standing topless woman at top of cloud, with long flowing hair, folding a white flower on a very long stem, wearing blue skirt with yellow flowers, yellow belt and purple and yellow flowered garment around one shoulder