A fine
okimono of Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Life. Carved from the tip of the
tusk, cream to golden in color, with striations and markings front and back, the
signature fluently inscribed on the bottom reads Seiryo --listed in Contemporary
Netsuke by Miriam D. Kinsey, Tuttle, 1977 Seiryo, born Hideo Sumida in 1935 in
Kumamoto Perfecture to a Samurai family. Studied under Seiho Ishida.
The
piece is carved with utmost simplicity as a devotional statue in Zen practice.
The figure of the Buddha sits in meditative repose in full lotus, parallel arcs
of his falling garment creating a gentle rhythm that compliments the imperturbable
stability, lending softness and lightening the effect. The face is broad with
full cheeks, curving lips and delicately tinted high arching brows above the large
downcast eyes. Carving is clean, free of surface decoration and imbued with the
sincerity of unadorned faith. In the Jodo sect, reciting with a pure heart the
words “Manu Amida Butsu,” secures entry into the Pure Land, the western paradise
of Amida Buddha.
The
Buddha of Infinite Life is the personification of compassion; the intermediary
between Supreme Reality and mankind. He represents the Higher Self, and the esoteric
meaning of rebirth into his paradise is the awakening of Bodhicitta in the human
heart. --RW
