Paradise of Amida Buddha (Amitabha)

Kasuga Kaishi · 794-1185

Devotion to Amida Buddha within Japanese Buddhism reached a crescendo late in the Heian period (794-1185) and continued through the Kamakura period (1185-1333). Amida's Western Paradise was central to the iconography of Amidist cults, and most specifically to Pure Land Buddhism. Images of the Western Paradise were symmetrically-conceived views of paradisiacal court architecture and gardens populated by deities and souls recently arrived from the earth. Related images, called raigozu, show Amida Buddha, attendant bodhisattvas (enlightened beings) Seishi and Kannon, and sometimes additional retinue, descending to earth to greet a soon-to-expire believer.