Clay Statue Tableaux 五重塔塑像

Official explanation

At the base of the five-story pagoda are a series of Buddhist tableaux shaped like caverns dating from 711, which contain 97 clay figurines. The figures playing the central roles are surrounded by priests, attendees, ministers, and other more minor participants. The four sides of the tableaux represent famous scenes from the story of the Buddha. On the east side, Yuima, a layman, is engaged in a religious dialogue with Monju, the bodhisattva of wisdom. On the north side, the Buddha is passing from this world into Nirvana, mourned by weeping disciples. The agonized faces of his devotees are depicted in the scene, as well as a doctor taking the Buddha’s pulse. The west side shows the Division of the Relics of Gautama (Shakyamuni), when his remains were distributed among eight tribes after his death some 2,500 years ago. On the south side, the Buddha of the future, Maitreya (in Japanese, Miroku Bosatsu) has achieved enlightenment and is giving a lecture.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.