The Buddhist mandala, a systematic diagram of cosmic deities, was adapted by the native Japanese Shinto religion to interpret their own pictorial concepts. This unusual mandala is a "name scroll," in which the characters of name for the deities are the central image. Here, the seven large gold characters read, "In homage to the great and radiant deities of the Kasuga Shrine" (Namu Kasuga Dai Myoujin), and appear to form an image of a deity standing on a lotus pedestal, covered by a jeweled canopy, and against a mountain backdrop. Name scrolls such as this were often used as iconic images in rituals. They provide a path to understanding the sophisticated eclecticism of Japanese religious art during the medieval period.