Manjusri and the Sea Turtle Diptych (22/50)
by Mayumi Oda
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- robynbuntin
Description
Manjushri (Manjusri) — the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, typically depicted wielding a sword that cuts through ignorance and riding a lion — here accompanied by a sea turtle in Mayumi Oda's feminist revision of Buddhist iconography. Where the traditional Manjushri rides a lion and commands the masculine energies of discernment and swift decisive wisdom, Oda's Manjushri is paired with the sea turtle — ancient, patient, long-lived, deeply embedded in the aquatic world — suggesting a different quality of wisdom: slow, accumulated, attentive to depth and time rather than to the sharp sword-stroke of intellectual cutting. The diptych format gives the composition room to explore the relationship between the two figures across its full expanse.
More Prints by Mayumi Oda
More Seascapes Prints
Child of the Sea
1940
Woodblock print
The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Pacific Ocean, Awa Province (Boshu Taikai), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu)"
Boshu Taikai
1925
Color woodblock print; oban
Pine Beach at Miho (Miho no Matsubara), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
September 1931
Color woodblock print; oban
Frequently Asked Questions
Manjusri and the Sea Turtle Diptych (22/50) was created by Mayumi Oda (小田真由美).
Manjusri and the Sea Turtle Diptych (22/50) depicts seascapes and animals.