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The Japanese Connection |
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| IMPORTANT NOTE:
To understand the context of the Japanese Connection it is neccesary to first understand The Mount Meru Connection. This page is not yet fully developed as we just recently came across this data |
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SOURCE
Figure 1 Shumisen-gizu (A Representation of Mount Sumeru), detail, first half of the 19th century. Museum Collection. nnnnn"In Buddhist philosophy, a giant
mountain called Mount Sumeru (Shumisen) was
believed to stand at the centre of the world. The map in figure 1 shows
a 3-D model (Shumisen-gi) of the Buddhist world organized around Mount
Sumeru. The huge mountain of Sumeru towers up in the centre, enclosed by
a series of eight concentric oceans and mountain ranges. The outermost
of these, called Tecchisen (Cakravada Mountain), is located at the very
edge of the world, and in the ocean just inside it (i.e. the outermost
ocean) islands are depicted to the north, south, east and west of Mount
Sumeru respectively. Of these four islands the one to the south of centre,
shaped like an inverted triangle (to the lower
right of Mount Sumeru in figure 1), is Nansenbushu (Jambu-dviipa) where
human beings reside. Portrayal of Nansenbushu is essential to all Buddhist
world maps. The oldest extant example is the 14th century Gotenjiku-zu
in the Horyuji collection, but maps in this lineage continued to be produced
through the Edo period. The Map of Nansenbushu in figure 2 is one such
example. Looking at the inverted triangle shape denoting the Indian Subcontinent
we can see the Himalayan Mountains indicated in the central area, and so
that tract of land clearly represents India (Tenjiku). In the far northeast
corner of this continent we can see China (Shintan) and in the eastern
sea at the very edge of the map, the island of Japan."
Figure 2 Map of Nansenbushu (Jambu-dviipa), late Edo period. Museum Collection. Edo period of Japanese history (1603-1867) |
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