Amida, the Japanese Deity: A Parallel to Harpocrates

This black-and-white woodcut depicts a central, seated figure in heavy robes, characterized by a head surrounded by a large solar nimbus, identified as the Japanese deity Amida. The figure rests upon a large, blooming lotus flower supported by thick stalks emerging from a base. To the left, a small, kneeling human figure with hands pressed together in prayer sits upon a separate, smaller lotus blossom, and a small vase with a floral sprig sits on a pedestal near the central figure. The composition is highly stylized, using thick hatching and bold, dark lines to delineate the petals and the flowing drapery of the robes.

This print appears in Athanasius Kircher’s 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus' (1652–1654), a massive work of syncretic scholarship that attempted to link all world religions to an ancient, primordial Egyptian wisdom. Kircher characterizes the Japanese deity Amida as a functional equivalent to the Egyptian-Hellenistic deity Harpocrates, reflecting the Jesuit obsession with finding traces of Hermetic or Egyptian religion in global faiths.