National Museum of Asian Art
Star Mandala
1615-1868
Known variously as the Star Mandala or the Big Dipper Mandala, this painting is an Edo period (1615-1868) version of an iconographic concept that was imported to Japan from China in the ninth century. It was employed in Esoteric Buddhist rituals for the purpose of warding off epidemics, averting natural disasters, and prolonging life.
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