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Manjusuri and Sea Turtle

1989

Oda Mayumi 小田 まゆみ

(Japanese, b. 1941)
Japan, Heisei period (1989-2019)
One of a diptych of color screenprints
Irregular: 97.5 x 65.5 cm (38 3/8 x 25 13/16 in.)
Gift of the Artist 1994.77.b
© Oda Mayumi
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Description

The Japanese term for substituting an unexpected figure for a conventional one is mitate (見立), or “stand-in.” Oda Mayumi applies the device, popular in ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period (1615–1868), to Monju (Manjushri in Sanskrit), a bodhisattva—a being among those considered enlightened in Buddhism—who symbolizes wisdom. One form of this bodhisattva depicts him as a child with his hair in knots. Oda’s Monju is instead a woman with her hair in a similar style, who also holds a nyoi (如意), a staff used by Buddhist clergy when delivering formal lectures.
Manjusuri and Sea Turtle

Manjusuri and Sea Turtle

1989

Oda Mayumi

(Japanese, b. 1941)
Japan, Heisei period (1989-2019)

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