Akadouji　赤童子

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Lit. red youth. Also often called Kasuga Akadouji 春日赤童子. A mysterious human figure said to have appeared on a rock immediately in front of the Kasuga Jinja 春日神社 gate. He often is shown as a youth, douji, colored red, aka, standing on a rock, and leaning on a staff. In certain poses both in paintings and in prints, Akadouji resembles Kongou douji 金剛童子, one of the attendants of *Fudou Myouou 不動明王. His connection with Kasuga is obscure, but he has been identified with Ame-no-Koyane 天児屋根, the God of the Third Sanctuary there; with Jinushigami 地主神, the land god; with a healer's helping spirit; and with a thunder god of Mt. Mikasa 御蓋, which stands behind the Kasuga Jinja. Extant images date from the Muromachi to Edo periods.

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