Female Shinto Deity

In Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, female deities play an equally important role as their male counterparts. The earliest surviving sculptures of female Shinto deities date to the ninth century, and they often form a set with a depiction of the male deity Hachiman, the god of war. The goddesses’ identities are inexact, and such sculptures show a generic woman of the imperial court in secular dress.

Here the deity’s stiff pose and blocklike shape recall other sculptures of this type, but her softened facial features and placid expression make it apparent that the artist was very skilled.