Thematic Exhibition The Heart of Prayer:
Buddhist Art in The Owari Tokugawa Family Collection

The Owari Tokugawa family was devoted to the same Jōdo-shū, or Pure Land sect of Buddhism as the shogunal family, and built the Jōdo temple Kenchū-ji as its family temple. They also established burial plots for their successive family heads and their family members at Kenchū-ji temple. At the same time, individual members of the family had their own personal religious faith and as a result the Buddhist objects in the collection of the Tokugawa Art Museum that were passed down in the Owari Tokugawa family are wide-ranging in their coverage. They include splendid Buddhist scriptures, Buddha statues, and Buddhist paintings, which formed the foundation of faith. Added to these are personally treasured articles of the deceased, which were offered to temples with prayers for the repose of the souls of the departed and buried with them. With these, this exhibition tries to unravel the complex feelings around Buddhism held by the various members of the daimyō family.