Japan Station: A Podcast About Japanese Culture & the Japanese Language 22 Discovering Buddhist Sculptures w. Michael VanHartingsveldt
On this episode of the Japan Station podcast we're digging deep into the world of Japanese Buddhist statues and iconography.
Michael VanHartingsveldt is an expert on Buddhist art and iconography. In 2016, Michael obtained a Master's degree in East Asian Art Business through a joint program offered by the Sotheby's Institute of Art and Claremont Graduate University. He then went on to work as a Collections Management Technician at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (LACMA). At LACMA Michael worked in the East Asian Art Collection and handled everything from ukiyo-e woodblock prints to Buddhist statues. Michael has also curated art exhibits and given lectures at the Japan Foundation in Los Angeles. In the fall semester of 2019, Michael entered into a PhD program at the University of Kansas. There he will further his research on Japanese Buddhist art and statues.
In this episode we discuss:
- How backpacking around Japan led to an interest in the art and history of Buddhism (and Shinto) in Japan
- A few tipes for visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha (an important shrine in Kyoto dedicated to the fox god, Inari)
- Nara's famous Tōdai-ji temple
- Who the Niō (Two Benevolent Kings) at the entrance of Tōdai-ji are
- The hierarchy of celestial beings in Buddhism
- Who Fudō Myōō is
- What Shugendō is
- The statues of Zaō Gongen that are at Kinpusen-ji temple on Mt. Yoshino in Nara Prefecture
- Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto and its many statues
- The bodhisatva Kannon
- The origins of Amida Nyorai
- The origins of the Nami-kiri Fudō
- Who Takuma Kamine is
- And much more!