Duality Of Kasuga Mandala

When looking at this image, we can see the duality of the” Kasuga mandala’s” meaning and story context. Made between the 14th ~ 15th century (Muromachi period) with ink, color and gold on silk as a hanging scroll, which now hangs at Cleveland Museum of Art, the visuals on it represent a more public, universal story as paradise is connected to the earth’s sakura and ocean leaves by a holy deer, a tree, five characters in a golden circle whose stance and clothing resemble holy monks or men with more wisdom and power, and a local, renowned mountain above it all. Each figure represents a deity or holy symbol (representational) in the buddhist religion of that era’s Japan, such as the beloved deer and the wise men, showing either the journey the