Gigeiten　技芸天

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Goddess of the Arts. A minor Buddhist deity revered in Japan as patroness of the arts. According to the GIGEI TENNYO NENJUHO 技芸天女念誦法, she was born from the hairline of *Daijizaiten 大自在天 (Sk; Mahesvara) while he was playing music, whence she is also known as Daijizaitennyo 大自在天女 or Makeishura choushou tennyo 摩醯首羅頂生天女 (goddness born from the crown of Mahesvara). She is described in literature as holding celestial flowers in her raised left hand, and the hem of her robes with her right hand. However the renowned sculpture at Akishinodera 秋篠寺 in Nara, with a dry lacquer head dating from the Nara period attached to a wooden carved body dating from the Kamakura period, takes the form of a bodhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩, with the right hand raised and the left hand fingering her robes. Some scholars do question whether this figure actually represents Gigeiten at all.

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