Thousand-armed Kannon in Incense Container-shaped Shrine

This is a round portable Buddha shrine made with flush-fitting the body and lid in the inrōbuta style. The shape of such shrines resembles incense containers and so they are often called ‘incense container Buddhas.’ Shrines like these may have been carried by traveling monks who used them in worship. Both the body and lid were carved from sandalwood, and so originally must have exuded a pleasant fragrance when opened.
A sculpted seated image of a thousand-armed Kannon (Skt. Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara) appears inside the shrine. It does not actually have one thousand arms but expresses the concept of one thousand by the presence of two ‘true’ hands pressed together in front of the chest and forty subsidiary arms. The lid features high-relief images of a flute and shō (wind instrument resembling panpipes) on the upper portion, an incense burner atop clouds set in the center, and the female deity Kudokuten (Skt. Laksmī) and the aged Basūsen (Skt. Vasu) to the left and right. Kudokuten is also called Kisshōten or Benzaiten, while iconographically Basūsen is an immortal likely originating from the deity Shiva and is depicted as an ascetic practitioner. Originally an Indian deity, Shiva was incorporated into Buddhism as a protective deity and here symbolizes Kannon’s compassion.
The gentle style of this shrine is a characteristic of the late Heian period, but the ease of the Kannon’s pose elicits the naturalism of the Kamakura period. It was likely produced during the transition between these two periods in the late twelfth century.