Batou Kannon 　馬頭観音

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Also called Batou Myouou 馬頭明王 (Sk: Hayagriva). The Horse-headed *Kannon 観音 in an angry, funnu 忿怒, form. He is also considered to be the angry form of the Buddha Muryouju 無量寿. One of the *Roku Kannon 六観音, who saves those in the realm of animals, and also one of the hachidai myouou 八大明王 (see *myouou 明王). He is distinguished by the white horse's head that he wears like a crown. The horse is one of the symbols of dominion of the Ideal king, Kyouryou rinjin 教令輪身 (or Kyouryou jouou 教令聖王; Sk: Chakravartin). There are many different forms of Batou having one to three faces and two to eight arms, and he holds different attributes in different images. In the Kannon Section of the *Taizoukai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅, he has three faces and two arms, is red in color, and makes the konpon-in 根本印 gesture in front of his chest. However, in art forms with three faces and eight arms are most common. The cult of Batou appears not to have been as popular as those of the other esoteric Kannon, although it is recorded that an image of Batou was enshrined in Saidaiji 西大寺, Nara (late 8c). Batou is sometimes found in sets of the Roku Kannon, but independent images dating from the Heian period are rare. Well-known examples dating from the Kamakura and Muromachi periods include the standing statues in Kanzeonji 観世音寺, Fukuoka prefecture, and Joururiji 浄瑠璃寺, Kyoto, as well as the painted image of seated Batou in the Boston Museum of Art. In the Edo period, Batou came to be worshipped as a protector of horses due to his iconography and his role as savior of those in the realm of animals. Many remaining stone statues *sekibutsu 石仏, of Batou were once set in place to protect travelers and their horses from injury on dangerous paths. It is also thought that Batou became conflated with a folk horse deity believed to be the vehicle of a deity *kami 神, who rides between this world and the sacred realm. Because of this identification, he became the protector of horses and the Buddhist counterpart *honjibutsu 本地仏, of deities of common komagata 駒形 (horse-shaped) shrines, which are found all over Japan.

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