Kasuga Shika Mandara Scroll
(Ink and Pigment on Silk)
This hanging scroll is a shika mandara (deer mandala), a type of religious image associated with the Kasuga deities. Paintings such as this one were often used as descriptive aids or objects of reverence by Kasuga adherents.
The imagery of the scroll traces its origin to the founding legend of Kasugataisha Shrine. Takemikazuchi no Mikoto, the primary Kasuga deity, is said to have flown to Mt. Mikasa from a province in eastern Japan on the back of a white deer.
Shika mandara differ according to when and by whom they were made. However, they typically portray a saddled white deer floating on a billow of clouds with a sakaki tree standing upright on its back and a large mirror resting in the branches. Deer are believed to be sacred messengers of the Shinto deities. Sakaki are also considered sacred, and their boughs are frequently used in Shinto rituals as offerings, or for purification and invocation. Mirrors hold ritual significance as objects in which kami deities can reside. Each of these three elements is associated with deities enshrined at Kasugataisha Shrine.
In this image, the zigzag-shaped strips of paper hanging from the branches symbolize the five main deities of Kasugataisha Shrine. In the background is Mt. Mikasa, the sacred mountain of Kasugataisha. For worshippers of the Kasuga deities who lived far from the shrine, a scroll like this would have served as a stand-in for Kasugataisha itself.
この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
