The World of Enlightenment: Constructing a Sense of Ritual Scene

Abstract

Abstract As one of the semi‐permanent exhibitions of the Wereldmuseum (World Museum) in Rotterdam, the subject of “The World of Enlightenment” is to show the “teachings” of Japanese esoteric Buddhism. It is distinguishable from those religious exhibitions whose focus lies in introducing the religious materials based on an art‐historical perspective or the classification of a defined style and historical period, as its scope sought to show the audience how the Japanese “secret teaching” is experienced “in practice,” namely, in the ritual context. In order to engage museum audiences in the spirituality of Japanese esoteric Buddhist presented in this exhibition, the curator and museum staffs construct five temple‐like structures to group the religious objects and highlight their usage in Japanese esoteric ritual. This exhibition review intends to present the special strategy that “The World of Enlightenment” employs to construct a sense of ritual scene to its audiences: certain installations are placed both inside and outside of the five temple‐like structures to refer to the “metaphorical presence” of both the Japanese esoteric priest and worshiper, in so doing to make these “imagined” temple setups more “lifelike.”

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