Shaka Sanson (Buddha with two Assistants)
- Date:
- 1968
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
"Shaka Sanson (Buddha with two Assistants)" from 1968 — a late-career return to the classic Mahayana Buddhist triad of Shakyamuni flanked by two bodhisattvas — demonstrates Munakata's sustained engagement with Buddhist iconography across four decades of printmaking. The Sanson (triple image) format, one of the oldest in Japanese Buddhist art, places the central Buddha between his two great attendants: typically Monju (wisdom) on the left and Fugen (practice) on the right. Munakata's 1968 version brings his fully mature carving authority to this ancient compositional formula, the three figures charged with the accumulated energy of a lifetime of engagement.
1960
Woodblock print
Shôwa period, 1926-1989
Woodblock print
1939-68
Woodblock print
1939 (printed 1955)
Woodblock print
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.
Shaka Sanson (Buddha with two Assistants) was created by Shiko Munakata (棟方志功) in 1968.
Shaka Sanson (Buddha with two Assistants) depicts temples & shrines and religious.