Prince Shōtoku at Age Two, Japanese, Kamakura period, datable to c. 1292. Japanese cypress; assembled woodblock construction with polychromy and rock-crystal inlaid eyes. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 99.1979.1. Photo: Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Exhibit - Prince Shōtoku: The Secrets Within

Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138

This exhibition gives visitors the rare chance to encounter a significant 13th-century Japanese icon, Prince Shōtoku at Age Two, from the inside out. Legendary prince Shōtoku Taishi (c. 574–622) is regarded as the founder of Buddhism in Japan. At two years old (one by the Western count), he was believed to have taken several steps forward, faced east, put his hands together, and praised the Buddha. A sacred relic, the eyeball of the Buddha, then appeared between his hands. The diminutive life-size sculpture—the oldest and finest of its kind—depicts that miraculous moment.

To learn more, please visit the Harvard Art Museums webpage.

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