Anchin mandara　安鎮曼荼羅

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 used for performing the anchinhou 安鎮法, an esoteric rite for achieving peace and security of the state or of a new home. For imagery of the Tendai 天台 sect, *Fudou Myouou 不動明王 is depicted at the center with two arms and yellow in color. He is surrounded, in the second enclosure, by eight four-armed blue figures of Fudou Myouou in the eight directions, each seated at the center of an eight-spoked wheel, while the guardian deities of the eight directions, happouten 八方天, are depicted in the third enclosure. The Anchin mandara used by the Shingon 真言 sect centers on a four-armed variety of Fudou Myouou surrounded by the guardian deities of either the eight directions or ten directions, jippouten 十方天. The Anchin mandara kept at Kokubunji 国分寺 in Yamaguchi prefecture is the only extant polychrome version depicting the twelve guardian deities *juuniten 十二天 (important cultural property).

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