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c. 1710

Lion Scroll (left panel of diptych)

Hanabusa Itchō

Japanese, 1652 - 1724

Image 1 of 21 / 2

These Japanese scrolls depict a Chinese Buddhist story of a lioness. On the sacred mountain Tientai, she hurled her newborn cubs from a stone bridge into a mountain waterfall as a rite of initiation that tested their courage and endurance.

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Hanabusa Itchō, Lion Scroll (left panel of diptych), c. 1710 | Philadelphia Museum of Art