A Chameleonic Icon: Questioning the Underground Christian Identity of an Edo-period Amida Sculpture in the Nyoirin Kannon-dō, Kawaguchi City

dc.contributor.advisorWalley, Akiko
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Rachel
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-27T18:58:12Z
dc.date.available2016-10-27T18:58:12Z
dc.date.issued2016-10-27
dc.description.abstractIn 1956, a statuette of a female deity and crucifix were discovered inside of a seventeenth-century Amida Buddha statue enshrined in the Nyoirin Kannon-dō, Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan (“Kawaguchi Amida”). This thesis problematizes the methodology currently employed in the study of Japanese Christian-related objects. Thus far, research on the Kawaguchi Amida has considered it exclusively as a rare Christian artifact, connecting it to a local woman who escaped the 1623 martyrdom in Edo. No studies have yet focused on its role within a Buddhist context. This thesis first of all identifies the female statuette—presently attributed as a "Maria Kannon"—as Kishimojin. It then examines the nested configuration of the Kawaguchi Amida, including the votive shrine that contained it and the caches found inside, through preceding Japanese Buddhist sculptural practices, providing a more nuanced analysis of its identities as a variegated Underground Christian and Buddhist statue.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/20554
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US
dc.subjectAmida Buddhaen_US
dc.subjectBuddhist sculptureen_US
dc.subjectEdo perioden_US
dc.subjectMaria Kannonen_US
dc.subjectTokugawa perioden_US
dc.subjectUnderground Christiansen_US
dc.titleA Chameleonic Icon: Questioning the Underground Christian Identity of an Edo-period Amida Sculpture in the Nyoirin Kannon-dō, Kawaguchi City
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Art
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.levelmasters
thesis.degree.nameM.A.

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