Buddhas in the West Material Archive

In the West, shakuhachi performance is often linked to a Zen-like moment of spiritual awakening – an interpretation largely absent from Japanese historical practice.

For more, see Max Deeg, “Komusō and Shakuhachi-Zen: From Historical Legitimation to the Spiritualisation” (2007).
#Buddhasinthewest

At the center stand komusō, “monks of nothingness,” recognizable by their basket hats and their playing of the bamboo shakuhachi during begging rounds. 5/6

Compositional touches, such as the tourist seated in a pulled rickshaw, reinforce Japan’s presentation as a traveler’s paradise for Western audiences. 4/6

The accompanying description reads like a guided tour of the temple grounds, lending narrative weight to the immersive “virtual reality” effect of stereophotography.

It blends historical context with vivid visual detail, inviting viewers to examine the scene closely. 3/6

This photograph was taken by the seasoned stereophotographer Herbert Ponting, who had produced Japan sets for other studios, including H. C. Graves and Underwood.

The scene depicts the front gate of Chion-in, the head monastery of the Pure Land sect founded by Hōnen in the 12th century. 2/6

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) fueled Western demand for new images of a rapidly modernizing Japan.

Among the companies meeting this demand was H. C. White, which issued boxed stereoview sets of Japan highlighting both its cultural traditions and signs of modern progress. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Japan

In this behind-the-scenes photo from The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), MGM's workshop prepares towering Buddhist statues for use as set design.

Despite present-day associations with peace, art director Cedric Gibbons relied on this monumental Buddhist imagery to evoke mystery and danger. 🧵
🗃️ #filmsky

These oversized temple statuary, detached from their religious context, became atmospheric props signaling an imagined Asian world to Western audiences.

For further discussion of Asian representation in cinema, see Naomi Greene's From Fu Manchu to Kung Fu Panda (2014).
#Buddhasinthewest

The statue in the rear with a hood is the famous Zen patriarch, Bodhidharma (perhaps his first depiction in American film?)

In East Asia, Bodhidharma was sometimes included in sets of eighteen arhats that flanked the walls of Buddhist monasteries. 4/5

As typed on the back, the woman in the photo was Leila Hyams, an MGM studio actor who did not appear in The Mask of Fu Manchu, but had starred in MGM films since 1928. 3/5

Gibbons made faithful reproductions of arhat statues, figures known in East Asia for having exaggerated and misshapen bodies and heads–signs of their supernatural attainments.

These facts were unknown to most audiences who would have viewed them as expression of Fu Manchu's grotesque villainy. 2/5

In this behind-the-scenes photo from The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), MGM's workshop prepares towering Buddhist statues for use as set design.

Despite present-day associations with peace, art director Cedric Gibbons relied on this monumental Buddhist imagery to evoke mystery and danger. 🧵
🗃️ #filmsky

💯💯💯 The loose network of ideas must live!

At the turn of the 20th century, tourists entering British Burma on a steamer would have looked down the Rangoon River to see the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the far distance.

Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site, the pagoda stands 112 m (367 ft) tall and dominates the Yangon skyline. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Myanmar

More than kitsch souvenirs, postcards reveal how colonial interactions and photography mediated encounters between Burma and the wider world at the turn of the century.

For more on colonial photography in Burma, see Noel Singer's Burma: A Photographic Journey (1993).
#Buddhasinthewest

In the colonial period, some Burmese merchants became wealthy through trade in rice and timber and sites like Shwedagon Pagoda experienced rapid growth.

Newly built resting pavilions and stalls selling flowers, parasols, and curios could be seen all over the grounds. 4/5

Following the postcard boom, Klier used his studio album photographs as the basis for portable, vibrantly colored postcards.

Such cards circulated through imperial mail networks, shaping how distant places like Burma were imagined by audiences in Europe and beyond. 3/5

German photographer Philip Klier's image blends monumentality with everyday life; palm trees frame the towering golden stupa while Burmese figures animate the foreground and provide scale.

Klier presents an idyllic vision for colonial consumers seeking the “exotic” East. 2/5

At the turn of the 20th century, tourists entering British Burma on a steamer would have looked down the Rangoon River to see the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the far distance.

Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site, the pagoda stands 112 m (367 ft) tall and dominates the Yangon skyline. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Myanmar

The first Tibetan Buddhist monks came to Europe amid the surge of interest over attempts to summit Mt. Everest in the 1920s.

Capitalizing on this excitement, a promoter in Darjeeling recruited men to pose as Tibetan cham dancers for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

Despite the unease of Tibetan officials, "real" Tibetan monks were allowed to tour Europe for the 1924 premier of the Epic of Everest, performing music as part of a live prologue to the film.

For more on these monks, see Peter Hansen's "The Dancing Lamas of Everest" (1996).
#buddhasinthewest

The costumes themselves drew on figures from actual cham rituals, including the fierce Buddhist deity Yama and a sacred stag. 4/5

Advertised as performing "weird and awe inspiring dances," the troupe shared the stage alongside Indian snake charmers, jugglers, and magicians.

This spectacle formed part of a long-standing colonial practice of publicly displaying foreign people as part of ethnological "human zoos." 3/5

Dressed in what appeared to be authentic masks and robes, the troupe performed in a theater attached to the India Pavilion.

Not everyone was impressed; a Tibetan student then studying in England regarded the performances as inauthentic and insulting to both Tibet and Buddhism. 2/5

The first Tibetan Buddhist monks came to Europe amid the surge of interest over attempts to summit Mt. Everest in the 1920s.

Capitalizing on this excitement, a promoter in Darjeeling recruited men to pose as Tibetan cham dancers for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Tibet

Founded in the 10th century, Zenpō-ji, a Sōtō Zen monastery, is renowned for the protective prayers its resident priests chant each day.

The temple is also famous for its remarkable collection of more than five hundred Arhat statues, each carved with a distinct facial expression. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Japan

All 531 arhat statues were recently restored and repainted. For an informative introduction to Zenpō-ji and a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration process, see the temple’s video viewable here: tinyurl.com/4cefw6xp
#buddhasinthewest

According to the temple, visitors are encouraged to look among the statues for one whose features resemble those of a deceased relative and to make offerings before it. 4/5

The back of the mount bears a second photo of the Drum Bridge at Sumiyoshi in Osaka, suggesting this page was extracted from a tourist album of photographs.

This hand-painted photo is attributed to Kusakabe Kimbei and dates to the 1890s; the photo of Zenpō-ji may also be a Kimbei print. 3/5

Arhats, the Awakened disciples of the Buddha, are regarded in East Asia as protectors of the Buddha's teaching.

Zenpō-ji, located near Tsuruoka in northeast Japan, has 531 unique Arhat statues that were carved in the early 1850s. 2/5