Sefukuji Temple: Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara

JAPAN, Osaka, Izumi; Edo period

This is a way marker along the 33 Avalokitesvara temples of the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route, on which Sefukuji Temple is the 4th temple. The marker is a carved block of wood, and the inscriptions on it name the temple, location, and stage of the pilgrimage.
The figure of Avalokitesvara within the mandorla is a copy of the eleven-headed statue the pilgrims have come to visit within the temple. The Bodhisattva stands on a lotus pedestal with the three main pairs of larger arms forming mudras or holding attributes. The rest of the arms are held outward. The Bodhisattva’s additional heads are arranged in three separate tiers, with a standing Buddha at the front of the crown.
A nimbus encircles the head and is enclosed within a mandorla intricately decorated with a vine-like pattern, among which are the Sanskrit syllables of the Avalokitesvara mantra. The wave-like pattern at the very bottom originated from the story of Hokai, the patriarch of Sefukuji Temple, who prostrated to the Bodhisattva in the ocean.