Fugen Bosatsu

Fugen Bosatsu — Samantabhadra, the Bodhisattva of practice and meditation, traditionally depicted mounted on a white elephant and associated with the Lotus Sutra — appears here in Munakata's 1960 rendering. Samantabhadra represents the active embodiment of Buddhist compassion and practice, and Munakata's interpretation would bring the same bold, direct carving energy to this celestial figure that he brought to all his sacred subjects. The 1960 date places this in his post-Venice Biennale period, when his style was fully formed and his international reputation established.