Daigensui Myouou 　大元帥明王

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Also Taigensui Myouou 太元帥明王. Sometimes read Daigen Myouou. In Sanskrit Atavaka, which means lord of the forest, and which is transliterated in Sino-Japanese texts as Atabaku. Originally a child-eating demon, he was converted by the Buddha and became a protector and helper *Yasha 夜叉. Thus he was a deity of non-Buddhist origin assimilated into esoteric Buddhism . His name appears among the sixteen Good Gods *juuroku zenshin 十六善神 who protected the DAIHANNYAKYOU 大般若経 and among the eight attendants of *Bishamonten 毘沙門天. Associated with for protection of the country and the submission of enemies, he is the principal deity *honzon 本尊 of the rite called daigensuihou 大元帥法. His name appears in several early esoteric texts, while in the 6c the ATABAKU KIJIN TAISHOU JOUBUTSU DARANIKYOU 阿た婆拘鬼神大将上仏陀羅尼経 was translated, and in the Tang Shanwuwei (Jp: Zenmui 善無畏; Sk:Subharasimha, 637-735) translated the three-fascicle ATABAKU GENSUI TAISHOU JOUBUTSU DARANIKYOU SHUGYOU GIKI 阿た婆拘元帥大将上仏陀羅尼経修行儀軌. This Daigensui was the focus of a ceremony at least by that time which was to develop into the ritual still performed in the Imperial palace, the history of which can be traced as follows. *Kuukai 空海 (774-835) brought to Japan the first text dealing with Daigensui. However, the monk who actually transmitted the secret ritual appears to have been Jougyou/Jougyou 常暁 (?-866) of Ogurusu Hourinji 小栗栖法琳寺 in Kyoto, who had received esoteric initiation from Kuukai. Jougyou arrived in China in 838, 34 years after Kuukai, and returned to Japan the following year with a collection of iconographic texts and art, amongst which were several texts and images concerned with Daigensui that he had received, along with instruction, from a Chinese master. Jougyou was succeeded by Chouju 寵寿. Emperor Ninmyou 仁明 (810-850) heard about the miraculous power of the daigensuihou and the ritual was performed in 840 in the palace's Jouneiden 常寧殿. Beginning in 851 it was celebrated as part of the ceremonies of the goshichinichi-no-mishiho 御七日御修法 performed under the supervision of the head of Touji 東寺 in the Shingon-in 真言院 of the imperial palace at the New Year. It was also celebrated in a hall of Hourinji. Following the precedent set by Chouju when he celebrated the ritual of Daigensui to quell a rebellion by Silla (Jp: Shiragi 新羅) in 870, the ritual had the specific purpose of quelling foreign enemies. The daigensuihou was commissioned at Hourinji for the quelling of internal rebellions, such as that of Taira no Masakado 平将門 (?-940), for the suppression of Kantou 関東 forces in 1181, and for the protection of the country from the Mongol invasion in 1281. After the loss of Hourinji in the Muromachi period, the honzon was transferred to the Rishouin 理性院 of Daigoji 醍醐寺, Kyoto, and the ceremony continued to be held until 1871. It is now performed in Touji in place of the goshichinichi-no-mishiho in the year following the accession of an emperor. Since this ritual is meticulously documented, the use of art in it is unusually well understood. Usually six scrolls were hung around a dais on which the ritual paraphernalia were placed. The three scrolls hung in the east, facing the officiant, were of three different forms of Daigensui. The central figure had 18 faces and 30 (or 36) arms, the one to the north had six faces and eight arms, while the one to the south had one face and four arms. All were extremely fierce in expression and blue-black in color. The north wall held a Shaka mandara 釈迦曼荼羅 and a Bishamon mandara 毘沙門曼荼羅, while the south wall held a Kokuuzou mandara 虚空蔵曼荼羅 . There are relatively few images of Daigensui but those extant are remarkable. They include the Kamakura period painting of Yoshiminedera 善峰寺 in Kyoto, which shows actual images (probably those of Hourinji) of Daigensui surrounded by the *shitennou 四天王. Six paintings used in the ritual at Daigoji are extant and were made by Kenshin 賢信 following the loss to fire in 1313 of the Hourinji set. These are unusually vivid paintings, using brilliant red and green, that show fierce deities hung with snakes and animal skins. Also part of the ritual set is a Shaka mandara or Honjin shoubu mandara 本身将部曼荼羅, that has as its central image a seated form of Daigensui with four faces (the central one gentle) and six arms. There is one equally remarkable sculpture of Daigensui in Akishinodera 秋篠寺, Nara. It dates from the late Kamakura period and is kept as a *hibutsu 秘仏 in a shrine in the Daigendou 大元堂. Iconographic drawings of Daigensui are held by Touji and Daigoji.

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