Delving into Bamiyan’s lost Buddhas and murals at Mitsui Memorial Museum

The two colossal Buddhas carved into a hillside in Bamiyan and the murals adorning the niches were destroyed in March 2001, when the Islamic fundamentalist organization Taliban blew up the archaeological site in Afghanistan, which is often cited as the crossroads of civilization. However, Japanese researchers in recent years were able to create elaborate line drawings of the murals depicting what is said to be the Zoroastrian sun god Mithra and the Tushita heaven, where the future Buddha Maitreya is believed to reside, based on detailed photographs and other related materials.

The Crossroads of Civilization
The Bamiyan Giant Buddhas
Sun God and Maitreya Beliefs from Gandhara to Japan

Sep 14 (Sat) – Nov 12 (Tue), 2024

Mitsui Memorial Museum
(Nihonbashi, Tokyo)

*See outline below for details

The line drawings (ink on paper), made by Kyoto City University of Arts Associate Professor Masako Shogaki in 1/10 scale under supervision of Nagoya University Professor Emeritus Akira Miyaji, were featured in an exhibition titled “The Bamiyan Giant Buddhas — Sun God and Maitreya Beliefs from Gandhara to Japan,” which ran at the Ryukoku Museum in Kyoto earlier this year (2024). The same exhibition is coming to Tokyo this fall to be held at the Mitsui Memorial Museum.

The exhibition in Tokyo, set to open on Sept. 14, 2024, will again highlight the line drawings, which can serve as future reference for furthering the study of Maitreya beliefs in ancient Central Asia, which eventually spread to East Asia, including Japan. Buddhist statues of the Maitreya belonging to the Gandhara idiom — such as the “Seated Bodhisattva Maitreya with crossed legs” (2nd-3rd century; top left photo) — as well as those from Buddhist temples and other institutions in Japan — such as the “Seated Bodhisattva Maitreya with one leg pendent” (dated 666; top right photo) of Yachu-ji temple in Osaka, a designated important cultural property — will also go on display.

Other items to go on display: