The Curious Case of the Kawaguchi Amida

Kawaguchi Amida Buddha, Maria Kannon, and Cross (early 17th century)

More than fifty people, including missionaries and laymen, were executed during the Great Martyrdom of Edo in 1623. Afterwards, another martyrdom of women and children occurred. Ryuha Zenshu, the abbot of Chotokuji Temple (長徳寺) in Kawaguchi, spared the life of Lucina, a Christian. Her father, a man named Kumazawa, donated a statue of Amida Buddha (Jpn: 阿弥陀如来, Amida nyorai, Skt: Amitābha) encased in a votive shrine to Chotokuji in gratitude.[1] In 1955, two small statues of Komori Kannon and a cross were discovered inside of the Amida statue.[2]

However, the concealed cache of the Kannon and cross inside the Kawaguchi Amida Buddha differentiates it from other underground Christian statues. It may have borrowed from a tradition in Buddhist sculpture called “zonai nonyuhin” (像内納入品, “caches inside images”) in which Buddhist relics, sutras, and small statues are stored in caches inside icons. Placing objects inside of an icon brought them to life, granting viewers an audience with the Buddha or other deity they face.[3] With sculpture caches in mind, underground Christians may have not solely used the Amida Buddha statue to hide the cross and Komori Kannon. The presence of the cross and Kannon may have enlivened Amida with the compassion of Christ, Mary, and Kannon, transforming him into a “gateway” for underground Christians to dually worship Christian and Buddhist figures.

Kawaguchi Amida

Akin to how images of Kannon were used as substitutes for Virgin Mary images, underground Christians also worshipped Amida Buddha images as the Christian God. Amida, like the Christian God, has the power to bring people to a better place, the Pure Land, after their deaths, which may have been why underground Christians worshipped Amida images.[1] The presence of the Christ on the cross and Komori Kannon, who also commit to saving humankind, inside the Kawaguchi Amida Buddha may enhance Amida’s power to bring worshippers to his Pure Land.

Kawaguchi Cross

A cross smelted out of gunmetal rested inside the hollowed-out Kawaguchi Amida.[1] Underground Christians may have prayed to the Amida Buddha, who received salvific powers from Christ, which created two layers of salvation. 

Kawaguchi Komori Kannon

Upon its discovery in 1955 inside the Kawaguchi Amida Buddha, this Komori Kannon statue was called a “Maria Kannon”.[1] Whether or not this cypress figure is a Maria Kannon is debatable because not all images of Komori Kannon are Maria Kannons. She holds a faintly-defined child against her chest, like many Maria Kannon figures, and her placement with the cross strengthens her relationship to Christianity. Regardless of whether or not she is a Maria Kannon, the presence of a Kannon demonstrates the use of the bodhisattva in underground Christian worship.