Kongouyasha Myouou　金剛夜叉明王

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Also written 金剛薬叉明王. Kongouyasha corresponds to Sanskrit vajrayaksa, which is also the name of one of the sixteen great bodhisattvas juuroku daibosatsu 十六大菩薩 of the *Kongoukai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅. One of the five great myouou *godai myouou 五大明王, the fierce gods who preside over the five directions. He represents the wrathful manifestation of Fukuujouju 不空成就, one of the five Buddhas of the Diamond Realm and presides over the northern quarter. In the Tendai 天台 sect his position is taken by *Ususama Myouou 烏枢沙摩明王, but in the Shingon 真言 sect Kongouyasha and Ususama are clearly differentiated. Blue-black in colour, he is represented with three faces and six arms and standing on a lotus with one leg raised. His central face has five eyes, while the other two faces both have three eyes; his three left hands hold a vajra-bell, bow and wheel, and his three right hands hold a five-pronged vajra, arrow and sword. His rite was believed to be especially efficacious for subduing demons and enemies and for gaining the love and respect of others, but he did not become the object of an independent cult in Japan. Artistic representations of him, both statuary and pictorial, are usually found in sets of the godai myouou, but a polychrome painting of him from the Heian period is preserved at Daigoji 醍醐寺 in Kyoto, and there is also a mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 dedicated to him, Kongouyasha mandara 金剛夜叉曼荼羅.

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