juuni shinshou　十二神将

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Also juuni yakusha taishou 十二薬叉大将, juuni shinnou 十二神王. The twelve protective deities *Yasha 夜叉 who accompany *Yakushi 薬師. According to the YAKUSHI RURIKOUNYORAI HONGAN KUDOKUKYOU 薬師瑠璃光如来本願功徳経, upon hearing the Buddha expound the worthiness of Yakushi, these Yasha chanted his name and vowed to protect those who spread his sutra. Thus, they are specifically the protectors of those who are devoted to Yakushi and who chant the YAKUSHIKYOU 薬師経. Considered emanations of Yakushi, each of the twelve had 7,000 emanations, adding up to the number 84,000. Because the names of the juuni shinshou were transliterated from Sanskrit to Chinese, they tend to vary. Although the appearance of the juuni shinshou is not described in the very early Chinese translation of theYAKUSHIKYOU, images appear to have been made in China from the Sui period onward, and at an early point it appears that they were coordinated with the twelve emblematic animals juunishi 十二支. In Cave number 220 of the Tunhuang Caves (Jp; Tonkou sekkutsu 敦煌石窟), carved in 642, the juuni dhinshou who appear in the depictions of Yakushi's Pure Land Yakushi joudo hensou 薬師浄土変相 have animals on their crowns. In Japan the association of the juunishi and the juuni shinshou appears in both the iconographic manuals *KAKUZENSHOU 覚禅抄 and ASABASHOU 阿婆縛抄; while the YAKUSHI NYORAI KOUSHIKI 薬師如来講式, written by Saichou 最澄 (767-822), mentions that the juuni shinshou have jurisdiction over the twelve hours. Although one might expect the earliest representations of the juuni shinshou in Japan to show the animals of the juunishi, they are not indicated in either the Houryuuji *Kondou 法隆寺金堂 painting or the Shin'yakushiji 新薬師寺 sculptures. Instead, they appear from the Kamakura period on, when the juuni shinshou linked to the function of the juunishi, protected time (i.e. twelve hours, twelve days and twelve months) as well as ritual space. The earliest representations of the juuni shinshou in Japan are the four figures painted in Yakushi's Pure Land on one wall of the Houryuuji Kondou. There are records that indicate that eight figures were part of the sculptural group that forms the Yakushi joudo in Koufukuji *Gojuu-no-tou 興福寺五重塔. The oldest extant sculptures of the Juuni Shinshou are from the Nara period set in Shin'yakushiji in Nara. There are also the late Heian period relief sculptures at Koufukuji. There are also sculptures (1064) by Chouzei 長勢 in Kouryuuji 広隆寺, and the Kamakura period sculptures in Koufukuji Toukondou 東金堂. Paintings include the Youchi-in 桜池院 Yakushi Juuni Shinshou, Wakayama prefecture, from the end of the Heian period. From the Kamakura period on representaions of the juuni shinshou were common.

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