Height 45.2 cm, Width 22.0 cm, Depth 15.3 cm.

Of Kannon Bosatsu's 33 manifestations, only one, Bato-Kannon, glowers menacingly upon the world. In Japan, Bato-Kannon's irate glare is generally held to express the notion that anger, if properly focused, can be a positive force in clearing away the obstacles on one's path to enlightenment. Although Bato-Kannon is generally believed to derive from the Hindu deity Hayagriva, whose head is that of a horse, the personality and symbolic thrust of the two gods are in fact quite different, Hayagriva being depicted invariably as peaceful and serene, if not smilingly happy. An alternative view on the question of the origin of Bato-Kannon's horse-head iconography cites a Hindu myth in which Vishnu transforms himself into a large horse-head with the intention of frightening off a would-be detractor of Brahma. Inasmuch as it offers consistency in terms both of the actual iconography and its accompanying symbolic purport, the Vishnu/Brahma tale theory is persuasive.

Early Japanese depictions of Bato-Kannon, the oldest dating to the 8th century, are of wood or bronze and invariably display a wrathful mien. In the case of Bato-Kannon images in stone, examples predating the mid-Edo Period are not to be found, most probably because they never existed. By the mid-Edo Period, the collective popular understanding had seized upon the misapprehension that Bato-Kannon, like Kannon's 32 other manifestations, was not wrathful but compassionate. In view of the horse-head perched atop the head of all Bato-Kannon images, moreover, Bato-Kannon was popularly believed to aid and protect horses and, by extension, other working animals as well as their human masters. Only in Japan did such an interpretive shift in Bato-Kannon's personality and symbolic meaning occur, and it is therefore only in Japan that one will find a significant number of Bato-Kannon depictions. Most are executed in stone, stone being the sculptural medium most suitable for placement along roadsides and other outside locations where horses tend to pass or gather. The vast majority of stone examples depict Bato-Kannon not as aggressively fearsome but as serenely compassionate.

Stone Bato-Kannon images have a protective as opposed to memorial function, i.e., they are talismanic. Accordingly, dealers and collectors in the local market value stone depictions of Bato-Kannon much more highly than they do stone images of Jizo Bosatsu, for example, all other price-relevant factors being equal. Another factor that tends to buoy market prices for examples of this intriguing deity is the relatively small number of extant stone images of Bato-Kannon, the first of which appeared during the mid-Edo Period ca. 1725. With the Meiji Restoration (1868) came the advent of rapid industrialization and a concomitant decrease in the employment of beasts of burden. Accordingly, one rarely encounters a stone Bato-Kannon image dated later than the Taisho Era (1912-1926).

The example offered herein is a rarely encountered 3-headed variation on the Bato-Kannon theme. The small horse-head motif is perched atop the central head, while a smaller head is located on either side of the central head. In addition to the two arms held centrally in front of the figure, four supernumerary arms, now largely effaced, are carved in relief against the flat, overarching mandorla.

Height 39.1 cm, Width 21.2 cm, Depth 10.1 cm.

Height 52.3 cm, Foundation stone 15.1 cm square.

Overall height 42.2 cm, Width of roof 22.5 cm, Depth of roof 34.1 cm.

Height 32.0 cm, Width 23.5 cm, Depth 13.0 cm.

Height 38.5 cm, Width 20.5 cm, Depth 19.7 cm.

Height 43 cm, Width 20 cm, Depth 9 cm.

Height 46.7 cm, Width 34.5 cm, Depth 13.5 cm.

A glance backward in time across the field of Japanese Buddhist stone sculpture tends to become a wide-eyed stare upon discovering a distinct stylistic shift somewhere around the beginning of the Edo Period (1603). To uninitiated observers, the defining features of a significant portion of pre-Edo stone sculpture remain shrouded in mystery, a fact no doubt related to the virtual absence of non-Japanese-language literature on the subject. As a helpful guide, six commonly observed characteristics of such pre-Edo Buddhist stone sculpture are herein summarized, as follows: (1) flatness, in two senses, namely, (a) shallow depth relative to height and width, and (b) shallow relief sculpting; (2) a triangulated upper mandorla resembling a pediment, usually jutting ledge-like outward over the figure; (3) a base carved pointedly for insertion directly into the ground as opposed to flatly for placement on the ground; (4) stylistic primitivism with regard to the treatment of the deity depicted; (5) an overwhelming predominance of Amida Buddha depictions, invariably in the seated position with hands placed centrally on the lap in the Amida jo-in concentration mudra; and (6) an absence of both date and inscription. This type of piece is typically found only along paths in remote mountainous regions of Japan, its original intended function apparently being similar to that of a dosojin stone marker, i.e., to ward off evil and protect passers-by. The innate tendency of such pieces to go horizontal necessitates that they be propped up against a wall or other form of lateral support for vertical display. If placed outdoors, they can easily be inserted into the ground.

Roundly formed, this stone deviates from the stylistic norm for such pre-Edo pieces with regard to point (2), above. Notwithstanding, it is without a doubt a Muromachi-Period Amida, and an exceedingly desirable one, at that.

Height 33.3 cm, Width 17.1 cm, Depth 12.0 cm.

Height 23.5 cm, Width 17.0 cm, Depth 10.0 cm.