The (A) version of Saito's Asura Nara print—one of the earliest variants in a series he revisited several times—likely shows the famous Kofukuji sculpture in the most direct frontal presentation. Saito was drawn to the Asura above all Buddhist subjects for its formal complexity (three faces, eight arms) and its unreadable emotional register: the teenage face hovering between grief and determination in a way that no amount of technical reduction could eliminate. The sculpture's antiquity and his art's modernity create productive tension.
伏見稲荷
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Uji Byodoin no ichibu
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Buddha Asyura Nara (A) was created by Saito Kiyoshi (斎藤清).
Buddha Asyura Nara (A) depicts temples & shrines and religious, set at Nara.
