hachibushuu　八部衆

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Abbreviation of Tenryuu hachibushuu 天竜八部衆. Eight classes of Indian deities who were converted by *Shaka 釈迦 and came to be considered protectors of the Dharma. They appear in many texts, including the Lotus Sutra HOKEKYOU 法華経, and are named as follows: *ten 天 (Sk; deva), Ryuuou 龍王 (Sk; Naga, see *ryuu 龍), *Yasha 夜叉 (Sk: Yaksa), *Kendatsuba 乾闥婆 (Sk: Gandharva), *Ashura 阿修羅 (Sk: Asura), *Karura 迦楼羅 (Sk: Garuda), Kinnara 緊那羅 (Sk; Kimnara), and Magoraga 摩ご羅伽 (Sk: Mahoraga). The names are not fixed, and an individual deity may sometimes represent their class. The most famous set in Japan was made of dry lacquer in 734 and once accompanied an image of Shaka. There is also a set of sculptures of Shaka's disciples in Koufukuji 興福寺, Nara. Temple tradition gives their names as Gobujou 五部浄 for the ten, Shagara or Sakara 沙羯羅 for the ryuu, Kubanda 鳩槃荼 for the Yasha, Kendatsuba, Ashura, Kinnara, and Hibakara 畢婆迦羅, probably for the Magoraga. The hachibushuu usually appear amidst groups, such as the group of figures surrounding Shaka in paintings of his death *nehan-zu 涅槃図. They were shown as a distinct group only in the Nara period.

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