Bodhisattvas descending from paradise (section from the Descent of the Buddha Amitabha), part of a triptych

This painting would originally have been produced as the right-hand work in a set of three scrolls that represented the descent from heaven to earth of the Buddha Amitabha (Japanese: Amida) and his retinue. As is typical in works known as raigozu (illustration of Amida and his retinue descending), the central and left-hand scrolls (which are missing) respectively would have depicted Amida and thirteen other bodhisattvas, all descending on clouds, as are the figures seen in this right-hand scroll.
Raigozu illustrate the religious belief that Amida and his bodhisattvas will greet dying devotees and guide them to the Amida's Western Paradise. Introduced in the ninth century, the story of the descent of Amida (raigo) was popularized in the following centuries by the Pure Land school, one of the major forms of Buddhism in Japan. As belief in this story spread, raigo became a favorite subject for artists. Most of the bodhisattvas shown here are bejeweled and crowned, and are playing various drums, flutes, strings, and other musical instruments. The twelfth figure (upper left) is also a bodhisattva but is shown in monks' robes. The figures were delineated in delicate lines, and their garments were executed using the painstaking technique of cutting and pasting gold leaf (kirikane). Stylistic features of this painting suggest it was made during the Kamakura period.