The famous Eleven-Headed Kannon, a national treasure, will be shown in Tokyo for the first time at a forthcoming exhibition of Buddhist art at Tokyo National Museum that opens in June.
The Buddhist statue created in the eighth century is regarded as the pinnacle of Japanese sculpture and is housed at Shorinji temple in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture.
According to a press conference at the museum on Thursday, the exhibition, "Sacred Treasures from Ancient Nara: The Eleven-Headed Kannon of Shorinji," will be held from June 16 to Aug. 31 at the museum in Ueno, Tokyo, and from Feb. 6 to March 28 next year at Nara National Museum in Nara.
The exhibition organized by The Yomiuri Shimbun and other organizations will feature about 30 treasured works, including the Jizo Bosatsu statue, a national treasure from Horyuji temple in Nara Prefecture.
The exhibition is part of the Tsumugu Project: Promoting, Restoring and Preserving the Beauty of Japan's Art, a cultural project coorganized by the Cultural Affairs Agency, the Imperial Household Agency and The Yomiuri Shimbun. The art show has also been selected as a program of Nihonhaku (Japan Cultural Expo) led by the government.
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