"Shaka no Saku" — a work of Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha) — was carved in 1957, near the height of Munakata's international fame following his Venice Biennale Grand Prize the previous year. The title's construction ("no saku" meaning "the work/deed of") suggests the Buddha not as a static icon but as an active, present force. Munakata's rendering of the Buddha maintained the raw, powerful carving that had made his religious prints so arresting since the 1930s: no decorative refinement, no doctrinal correctness, but the direct transmission of a presence felt through the woodblock's resistant grain.
1960
Woodblock print
Shôwa period, 1926-1989
Woodblock print
1939-68
Woodblock print
1939 (printed 1955)
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Shaka no Saku was created by Shiko Munakata (棟方志功) in 1957.
Shaka no Saku depicts figures, religious, and mythology.
