Tohatsu Bishamon: Three Japanese Statues in the United States and an Outline of the Rise of This Cult in East Asia

The Tobatsu Bishamon-ren<•l is a distinctive form of VaiSrav~a, the Guardian of the

North in Buddhist cosmology. The worship of this deity was inuoduced into Japan in the Earlr Heian period. From the 9th cent. A.D. through the Kamal.:ura period his images

were made in abundance tb."''ughout the country. The earliest of them were distinguished from more usual n.-prescntations of the King of the North by their e."<tremely rigid and frontal pose, elaborate Cenrral Asian armour, and standing on P!thivi, the goddess of the

earth.

The name c Tobatsu" appears only in Japanese sources, not in Chinese or any other l:mguagc. It is a phonetic uanscriprion of a foreign name whose precise meaning is ob­scure. Speculation on this problem can be found as early as the Kamakura period icono.

graphia~l treatises. These texts generally agree that the word refers either to a specific country or to a type of armour (' ). Modem scholars have sought to intcrpret the appdJa.

cion along these two lines.

R. A. Stein has presented the most p!auiible explanation of « Tobatsu » as a geogra· phical referent. According to him, the term is equivnlent to the Turkish « Tubba t » which designated Tuckestan and more specifically tb: kingdom of Khotan ("). As we shall see

later, this theory is particula.rly attract ive in the light of the importance of the 'fobatsu Bishamon-tcn at Khotan ilSclf.

Japanese scholars, on the other hand, have seen in « Tobatsu » a reference ro Tibet.

They base their suppositions upon an alterna:t reading of rhe ruune giv~ in the Kyiiin· bukkalw-sbol•> and the Sanmondusha·kr•> where « Tu. ban», the Japanese term for Tibet, is given together with the more usual « Tobat>u » ('). The main diflicultics with this ex·

planation are that 1) the Japanese already had a commonly accepted way to wri te the« Tu-

(*I I should like to atkno"·~ my opprecia­tion of the k<nd assistance of Professors J. Rosa>­!idd, M. Nag:nomi a.:Jd J. Higluowcr of t·Ian-.ud Uni\'el'Si ty.

(') K. IK~WA, « Chiten ni S=en.rcta BishamoJ>. ten CbOzi>.Tob:itsu Bisbamon ni tsultc no Icbi­kansaJSU ,., BK, 229, July 1963, p. 13. Tbe e3rliest written evidence for tbe name Tob.mu in jspon is in the &nomPW, a oompila:ion of icono­J!mphlcal studies mad<: by the $hir.gon m=k

144

Shink2ku <o> (1117·1180 A.D.). (') R. A. S'I'EIN, Rteb<rcb~s sur Npopi~ ~~

I< &m/ au Tibd, P~ri>, 1959, p. 28J . (') lKAWA, op. cit., .p. 13. The Sanmondosh4·

ki con be found in the Gwuhiirlli·iU, •-ol. 15 and is o: unknown dllte aod authorship. The K yiiin· bukkaku-shO belongs eo the close of the 14th can. A.D. and is includOd in the G:mshOr-J.i·f:i, •-ol. 16. Both uc: u id 10 have been based upon t<mple =ds of tho 9tb cmt. A.D.

ban " of Tibet which is diJierem from the characters here employed, and 2) as we shall sec below, the deity has no connection with that country. Stein has better understood this alternate reading as indkative of a general confusion between the correct Tubhat=Cenrral Asia or Khotan and the designation for Tibet in the T'ang dynasty ( ').

Following the second hypothesis, that Tobatsu is the name of a gannent, Matsumoto Bun2aburo has maintained that it denotes the long-skirted coat the god often wears. He

has derived his theory from a Ch 'ing dynasty travel diary in which the long overcoat of the Tibet2ns is designated by a word of the S9me pmnunci2rion urrinen in difiecl.'nt characters.

He h:ls traced the word back to the Han dynasty text on language, the Shtlo Wen, and

further connected it ~ritb tbe Central Tibetan tenn dug-po (coat, garment, dress). Ma­tsumoto has also attempted to account for the absence of the name « Tobatsu » in Chinese texts by as.~uming that the word belonged ro a dialect th:lr did not gain currency in litcrati circles until after the texts treating this deity had already been completed ('). This theory

is interesting in itself; however, considering the fact that the Kamakura works cited above do seem to favor the frn;t hn>othesis, and that the phonetic relationship between dug-po (roar) and « Tobarsu » is not ar all convincing, I would rend ro support Stein's proposal.

The exotic Toba:su or « Khotanese • Bishamon-ten seems to have been an important object of devotion not only in medieval Japan hut in China and Central Asia as weU. In an eiiort to tmderstand the origins and the narure of his worship, this paper will introduce

three Heian period srarues of Tobatsu Bishamon now in the United States an<! proceed to a more general discussion of the reasons for his widespread popularity. It will propose the

hypothesis that the cult of Tobatsu Bishamon c:m be rough!}' divided inro two major phases: 1) a Central Asian phase in which tht god seems to ha\•e been associated with a cult of deffied kings, and 2) a Chinese and Japanese phase in which he seems to have been

worshipped along with native folk spirits for protection and prosperity. Finally, it will suggest that a prototype C11n be found for tbe Tobatsu Bishamon-ten in Kush:ln petiod rep­resentations of the composite deity, Pbaro-Pancika-Kuvcra-Vaisravai}Jl.

l. Three Japa11eu Statues of Tobatsu Bisbttmo11

The Tobarsu in the Seattle Museum (fig. I ) is 4 7 lh inches in height and is made of wood which shows traces of gesso and polychromy. The figure wears armour in the sryle

of T'ang dynasty guardian deities, and rests on rhe hands of a small female who seems to emerge from the e=h. He holds a stupa in his left band and probably originally held a lance in his right. His four-sided aown is decorated with a heraldic bird on its central

panel.

(•) STEJN, op. tit., p. 283 and note 124, p. 313. (•) B. MATsu~Km>, u Tobatsu Bishamonko •.

145

Bttkk;O-shi Z~. Osaka, 19+4, pp. 306 ff.

This piece is similar to a number of starucs of Tobatsu Bishamon which ate said to

have come from Hyogo and Tottori prefecrures in Central Japan, and which can be rougbly dated to the l Oth or 11th cent. A.D.; for example, figs. 2 sod 3 from Tasshin-ji in

Hy<>go (•). All of these images should be seen in relation to the oldest Japanese rcpresen­

lalions of Tobatsu Bishamon which seem to have been based upon the celebrated statue at

loji (lig. 4), indisputably a work of Chinese origin of the late 9th or eat!y lOth cent.

A.D. ('). A brief examination of the TOji Tobatsu and the closely related pieces at Seiryoji

(fig. 5) and Kuramadent (fig. 6) provides us. moreover, wirh a neat illustration of the strik­

ing anistic transformation of this dcity from a forbiding exotic figure into a softer, more

Japanese image, less r igidly frontal in stance and less complicated by elaborate surface

detail

The Toji Tobatsu is 70 1-2 inches high and is made of Otinese cherry wood. Accord·

ing to native tradition, which conflicts with the now certain foreign origin of the statue,

it was made at the time of the Emperor Sujaku in the second yeat of 1he era Tengyo {938

A.D.) during the Tengy<> rebellion, an insurrection of the Taira and Minamoto clans. The

statue was placed upon the Rasbomon, the south gale of the capital. On the ninth day of

tbe seventh month of the first year of the Emperor Enyu when the gate: was destroyed in

a typhoon, i t was moved to the jikido at Toji. During the reign of the Emperor NinkO

0817-1846) rhe statue was again moved to the Bishamoo-do (").

The Toji Tobatsu is characterized by its marked fronrality, slender torso and a dis­Linct tribhanga posture which seems to emphasize the narrovmess of the waist and almost

disproportionate length of the limbs. 1be scaled aonour, with its characteristic rin.g pattern

on the sleeves, is depicted with utmost detail, producing a complex vC.-ual interplay of geo­

metric shapes. The chest ornaments, possibly representations of the sun and moon, be:u some resemblances to the breast pendants of the Persian monarchs depicted on Sasaniao

siker vessels; and tbe body proportions and style of dress with their Linear emphasis relate

this image to the figures appearing in the 6th and 7th cent. AD. paintings in the Central

Asian oases of Qumtura and Qyzyl ("). P!1hivi, in T'ang dynasty dress, is flanked by two

yalqa.s who are identilied according to the texts as ll:iranba and Biranba<9 (''').

The Sei.ryOji Tobatsu is slightly later in date and though an obvious cop>• of the Toji statue exhibits several significant cbanges in tbe treatment of the body and rhe armour. The

sculptor has eliminated the elaborate renderin& of rhe scales on the skirt and breast, leav­

ing only the chest ornaments and chains, and the lion mask at the waist. The torso seems

( •) IKAWA, op. cif., p. 22. This artic!e p;o\·jdc:; .t COCD?Otct .rumm .. uy of the m.1ioz example$ of Tob.1tsu Bishrunon in J•pan. Figs. 2, 3, 7. arc rq~roduccd from this SOUttt.

(') lls6bi Sbimbun, ed., Toji, Tokyo. 1958, p. 23.

(") N. YA:.tAMOTO, Toji<nrya}:u·shi, Ky«o, 1916, p. 87. The accoun: of the Toii s:atuc on the RasbOmon is fu-St given, mJI "-ithout doubt, by

146

me pricsr GOoo (1306-1362 A.D.J in the TobOki <•l. f•) R. GfU&$1£\f_A.N', Pcni(¥n Arl,. Nc:..'"'A· York.

1%2, pls. 245. 246. 249, 250; A. GRli..,WEDEL. Biltlar~tlas z11r Kumt umi Kulturgeubichu Miml· M ens, Berlin. 1925, fw. 86, 102.

("') According to the Vajrabodhi (Koog<)c!Ji) mnsluioo of the HU17111-lwlaya-giki C•>, Taisbii Dahiikyo (hcraftt:r ahbrcviotc:<i T ~ishO), 21, p. 2}5o.

fuller, a feeling conveyed perhaps by the reduction of the triple break of the body, and by the new $IDOOth $Ucface of the armour which seems to ease the transition from the inden­ted waist to the hips by allowing the eye to pass uninterruptedly from one area to the next. [lrthivi and the two 7~as have been simpliJied by the reduction of the decorative mass

of vegetation in front of the goddess, again petmitting the viewer to grasp at once the essen­tial elements of the sculpture.

The Kuramadera Tob:ttsu shows even further reduction of extraneous detail, thereby

minimizing the foreign appearance of the deity, who now conforms mote to native aesthetic demands. The chains connecting the breast pllites have been diminated, and a decorarh•e floral pattern runs along the borders of the armour. The torso is shorter and squatter in comparison to the :tbove statues, and much of the austere majesty of the gcd seems to have been lost by this alter-.nion in body proportions. The facial features show more Cleaggerated

modelling and less reliance oo sharp d iagonal contrasts to convey the forbidding aspects of the deity. The figure of P~rhivi, too, has lost its exotic flavour and is more in keeping with

the ideal of fctninine beauty of the aristocratic Fujiwara court. Although no specific infor­mation is avail:~ble on the circumstances sunounding this patticul:tr statue, it might be mentioned in dosing that the temple io which it is found has a long history of connection

with the worship of Vaisraval)a. Kuramadera, a mountain-top monastery a few miles due north of the capital, was supposedly established in 797 AD. in compliance with t.he wishes of Fujiwara lsebito"'l, a court noble who was then associated \Vith the building of Toji.

According 10 legend, lsebi1o had prayed 10 Avalokite5vara io a dream and had seen instead

Vaisrav>t.;ta, who led him to the sire v.·here he later ordered Kuramadera to be-built (").

Returning to the Seat·tle piece, it is apparent that the strooge Central Asian looking

Tobatsu statues of the Early H cian period have has been turned into more completely Japa­nese figures by the very process outlined above. The slender waist and elongated torso have

been entirely forgotten, and an.gular rigidity i~ exchanged for circular contours. The smooth curves of the body are skillfull}' echoed in the long sleeves which gradually lead the eye

around the fo.rm. In this u·ay are reduced both the abruptness of the extensions of the

anns and the triangularity of dle costume-features which bad given the e:trlier wo•ks much of their formidab!c ch:tracter.

Pr1hivi has assumed the appearance of a native Shinto goddess, abandoning the last trace of her foreign origin by discarding the T'ang high coiffure. The modelling of her face,

io its fulJness and emphasis on convex surfaces, has toned down the sh:trper conca,•icies of the previous works. She bears the ch:traeteri~tically soft ambiguity and blandness of

represe.'ltations of native goddesses, seen, for example, in the statues at the ;\tatsu-no-5 shrine in Kyoto and the Kumono-hayatama shrine in Wakayama prefecture ( " ).

{'1) A. Yunx.\ , c Toh:m Kli=su », Bukkja Biiulsu, 15, 1930, p. 63.

(l1) For i!lust:at:OO~ s.e~ B. KuuTA, « ~kkyO

147

Jiin ro Jasao Chokoku .. , G~nsholw 1-.'ibon no Bijulw, 5, TO.Ityo, 1967, 'PP- 202-203, figs. 138, 1-lO, 142.

The rough carving of the Seaule piece betrays iiS provincial ongm and relates it to l':orks like the two Tobatsu £ram Hy()go prefecture pictured in figs. 2 and 3 . It too is

prob:!bly a product of the late lOth cent. A.D. and the central region of Japan.

The Tobatsu in the collection of Howard Hollis (lig. 7) similarly belongs to the grout> of Tobatsu from Central Japan ("). It is 49 \4 inches in height and is constructed of a single piece of wood which retains traces of gesso and polychromy. The left band and right

311ll arc said to be later additions c·>. The figure wears armour similar to that of the Seattle Tobatsu, although iiS body proportions are slightly different. The HoUis statue is slender and seems less fixed and rigid. This impression is to be attributed perhaps to the marked slant of the head, the tall crown, and the absence of the long sleeves, which in the

Seanle piece served to cany tbe eye downward to the base of the statue, confining it to a more limited space. The crown bC3rs five Buddha figures on the front panel, and a smaii boy holding a censer on the leh. Ikawa has suggested that the child may be Zennishil'l, the son of Bishamon according to the Ilumu-kad!tya·giki ('•). The statue probably dates from the mid 11th cent. A.D.

The statue of Tobatsu (h. 34 \-7 inches) from the coiJection of Chdstian Humann now in the Dcn\'er Museum (fig. 8) is similar to both tho:: above in its simplification of much of

the dtt.~il of the earlier Heian "''orks. The short squat figure is, however, still cruder in execution. The curves of the body are only bardy articulated from the stump of wood, and the cos:tume is indicated by flat surface relief. The naive modelling technique is re·

mote from the masterful auention to detail seen in tbe more sophisticated Toji, Seiryoji,

and Kuramadera Tobatsu, and brings this work close indeed to the numerous anonymoU$ representations o£ folk deities found all O\'er Japan.

In summary, these three statues of TobaiSU BisbaOJOn all belong to the late lOth or

I 1th cent. A.D., and are most likely provincial works from Central Japan. They represent a reinterpretation of the exotic Tobatsu in conformity with native Japanese tastes, and share the same crude folk elements seen not only in the simplified execution of the main figure, bot also in the transformation of P!tbivi from an elegant T'ang princess into a modest Shinto goddess.

2. The Worship of Tobatsu BishllliWn iu ]apa1r

The earliest inlage of Tobatsu Bisharnon in Japan is said w re a drawing in the icono· g.raphiC::~l text known as the Daigoji·zuwsbii<ll (fig. 9). It bears a date of Ki>nin twelfth year (821 A.D. ) and the name of Kuru's disciple Chisen. The sketch is probably a Kamakura

(") li:AWA, op. cit., p. 23. The .piro: is also c!is.."'!ss<X! by ]. RosENFtELD, fdf'<DS•se Arts of lht Htian Pniod, New Yodt, 1967, pp. 107-!08.

{'') }1:.\WA, op. cit., p. 20.

148

(")Ibid., ·p. !9. The text ·is U!ought to be • K:tnu~rur. op<:riod fabricati~a. Of aU <the siilras cen:,.;ng around Tob:l:su Bishamon. th:s is 1hc only one th:tt ""'"lions him by n•mc (Tai;hO, 21, pp. 235a, 236., 2-l.Sb).

period copy of a 9th ecru. original, which had perhaps been transmitted to Japan from Chi­ll;) by Kiikai and bis immediate followers (10

} . Like !he Toji Tobatsu, this figure is clad in the long-skirted Central Asian armour. Care has been lavished upon depicting the scaled

;kin and breast and tbe circular patterns of the sleeves. The two crossed swords at the

,.·aist are skillfull}' decorated, as is th~ crown which shclws a bird on th~ central panel and wings omstrecched above i L The fiame.like zrcs coming from the shoulders form a broken

nimbus encircling the bead. Without going into funber detail, it might be of interest to

mention that parallels to this type of armour can be found at Qyzyl and Oumt'llni; parallds to the crossed swords occur at the same sites, in Sassanian Iran, and in Gandharan art in a figure probably representing Skanda from Kafir Ko~. now in t11e Brirish Museum (fig. 10) (").

Unfonunately, other images of Tobat.SU Blshamon associated u>ith Saicbo and Kiikai in tbe e:uly H eian period have all disappeared. The Bessonltlkl.:i contains a drawing of the Tobatsu

in the Monju-do at Hiei-7.an which bears an inscription stating that a similar statue could be found at the ZemO.in of the same temple("). According to the Sanmolf(/osha-1..-i and the Kyiiin­bukkakJHhO, the Monju-<lo image was made by Said>O himself( .. ).

There are two srames of Tobarsu Bishamon in the RyukO.in and the ShilmO.i1: at Koya­san e·;; however, they are several hundred years later than KUkai and indicate only that the ll.'Orship of this deity enjoyed some popularity at that centre of esoteric Buddhism. It might be of interest to pause in our discussion and briefly consider the relationship between the Tobatsu

Bishamon-ten and esoteric Buddhist practices. We r.ave already noted the presence of the Chinese :»arue of Tobatsu at TOj~ one of the most important centres of Japanese esoteric

Buddhism. We shall later point out that Amoghavajra, one of the founders of l\likkyo in

China is s:;id to have translated [JlQSt of the texts treating of Tobatsu Bisbamon, and tbat

he also plays a major role in the An-hsi legend of the god. Despi te all of this, it is sur­

prising to find that the worship of Tobatsu seems to have flourished more as a folk cult in

Japan and not as a pan of the high tvlikkyo rituaL The god does not appear in any of the

main nuzntf4las of either the Shingon or Tendai sects. However, Matsumoto Eiichi does

illustrate two images of Tobatsu from a min:>r mi11J4ala, the Horokaku .Ma11dara1' l, now

preserved in the Kanchi-in and the HobOdai-iJ: C ' ). The Horokaku Mam/ara is based upon

1he Buddhist siitra entitled Dai-ho-kobaku-roka.lm-leyol') (T oirhii 1 005), which was first tran­

slated by Amoghavajra and brought to Japan by Kukai and his followers. The text seems

to ba\·e been most popular in the middle of the 11th cent. AD. The rites of the Horok4ku Mandara described therein centre around the figure of the histori<al Buddha and are de­

signed to procure for the worshipper ahsolu rion from sin and release for his already de-

( 1.;.) T. MIN:AM(}T() . .: Tobota<..1 Bij;iu:..-non no JC.igen -., B"kkyo Bij:dsu, 15. 19.>0, !>· -16.

(") G&ii:-<WEDEL, op. cit., fig. 102; GmRStl.\~"-"· op. cit. ;>Is. 24~. 246, 249, 250. The n:p:-esemarion of Skand~ is ~cd br A. FouOii::R, L' t1rt

zdco-bosddl;ique du Cgndlkin, 11. Paris, 1918, p. 123. 1bc pbotog;,~ph is r<produ«d from f._js fig. 3i3, wbetc the god is mcontttly ideotifi~

149

.u P>.;cllu. <" l Ikssonzakki, 5-i. no. 28i ; Taisb6 Zn;:o, 3. ( .. ) l uwa, op. cit .. p. 12. ("") 1'. MATSUSIRT.\ , Koyas•m no 81111kor.ai,

I{QyaS'In, 1964, pis. 70, 71, te." pp. \} I. r'l E. ~fATSt.r~roro, Todoga r.o KenJ:yu.

lokro, t9H, PP· 439 f.

ceased loved ones C' ). In the two examples of this maJ.Itfala given by Matsumoto, To· lxusu is distinguished &om the more usual form o! VaiSrav:ll).:t only by his Centr:U Asian annour, rigid frootal pose and polygonal crown. The fig-.ue of P!thivi has been replaced

by a lla1 geometric platfo.m~. It is possible that further research into the Mikkyo texts, particularly those associated with the name of Amogbavajra, might bring to light other con­::rete evidence for the particip:ltioo of Tobauu Bisha.mon in the ceremonies of esoteric Buddhism.

During the very same years as the Horo/zakr1 Matzdara seems to have enjoyed great favor, the worship of Tobatsu Bisbamon also appears to have reached its peak. Most o£ the sixty or more statues of this god now ko:>wn in Japan belong to the l Oth or the 11th cent. A.D. Written records of the same dares and of the following centuries likewise indicate a continuing interest in the Tobatsu Bishamon·tcn.

The 14th cent. 1'obQ.ki provides imponmt information as to the purposes and narore

of the cult of this deity in Japan. Quoting &om the records of the Buddhist master Kal:u.in("J, it relates that an image of Tobatsu was placed on the Rarhemon in imitation of a practice begun by th<= T'ang Emperor Hsiian-tsung. During a barbarian invasion of An·hsi(•l, the Qli. nc:sc protectorate cemring around Kuca, the Emperor in Ch'ang·an had enlisted the aid of the famed teacher of esoteric Buddhism, A.moghavajro. When Amoghavajra prayed to

Bishamon, a divine army .appeared in far·off An-hsi, routing the enemy. Bisbamon himself stood resplendent upon the gates of the city (:..).

This legend was uansmitred to Japan in the fonn of a Buddhist sulra entitled the Hoppo-bishamatz·tenno.rui-gtmpo-ho-sbint,on<•l (Taisbo 1248) which was supposedly trans­

lated from the Sanskrit by Amoghavajra. The te>.'t states that in 742 A.D. five hordes o( barbarians attacked Ao-hsi, and Amoghavajra sought the aid of the monk 1-bsing Ch'an·

shih1•'. 1-hsing recited a dhara~1i to B.ishamon; during the twentr·seventh recitation, an arnx."C! figure, Tu Chien<•), one of the sons of B.ishamcn, appeared to the monks with an

army of several hundred soldiers. A repon followed from An·bsi stating that on the vc:ry

same day that Tu Chi en had appeared in the c:;pital, a miracle had transpired at the Central Asian outpost. A pack of rats had devoured the arms of the enemy; the earth had trem· bled violently, and the blazing form of VaiSrava~a had appeared on the city gates. In corn· rnemoration of this event, the emperor ordered starocs o£ this god to be erected on all town waUs (~'}. The siitra condudt=s v.oith a \'ariety of mudrii and dhizrat,Ji to be used io prayers

effective against one's enemies. 1be same acrount of this An-hs.i attack can also be found in the biography o£ Amoghavajra in the Sung Kao seng cbuan, where he alone Jl<!rforms the ceremonies to Bish:unon-ten (").

There are man1• inconsistencies in the different versions of rhis legend. On the basjs of the foUowiog observations, 1\btsumoto Bumaburo has concluded that the Hoppo·bisha·

("') S. M.-.svMuM, "Ho!XX!ai-in oi .O.su.ru Horohkurn•n<!."" •• Kokka. 300. 1890, p. 311.

("') T QbOki, ZoJ:u~oku C:msb0r11i-jti, 12, Shii·

150

.lqiibu, p. 21. ("') Tais/;0. 21 , p. 22Sb. ("') TaishQ, JO, p. 714.

mou-ti!IIIJO-zui-gunpo-00-shingon, its major source, must be a late T'ang or early Nortb~ro Suog fabrication (""}: 1) the text is not included in !he Chen yiian·shib chiao tr:f.•l which was completed in 800 AD., twemy-six years after Amogbavajra's dead!; 2) Amogbavajra was

absent from the capital just when he was supposed to have been rescuing An-hsi; 3) I -hs1og died lifteen years before t'he invasion is said to have taken p lace; 4} the aulhoritative bio­

graphy of Amoghavajra, the Pu-K'uug·saJt·lsang Hsing·chuang of Chao Ch'ien<•l makes no

mention of this incident; 5) the legend is an obvious synthesis of oilier tales cw:rcnt in Cen­tral Asia and O.ioa. For example, the 5tory of r3ts devouring rhe arnL< of the enemy

belongs to the tale of Khotan related by Hsuan-tsang. The pilgrim heard that once the rat king had answered the Khotanese ruler's plea by knding such 3 troup of rodents to chew up the weapons of the auackers (" ).

Despite its lack of historicity, tbis An-bsi legend is significant for us as it clearly in­dicates the SOUice for !he stationing of the Toji Tohatsu on the R.ashiJ!I10II in rhe Heian capital and the importance of this god as a protector against the threat of military violence. f t is wonhwhile to stop a moment and explore the politkal and religious conditions which

might nave furthered the popularity of such a guardian figure in l Oth and 11th cent. Japan.

We rwwe seen that the Toji Tobatsu first appears in historical records in connection

with the Tengyo rebellion. TIJe years immediately following this date, if one may judge hom the number of extant statueS of Tobatsu beloogi.ng to this period, marked the height of his popularity. These were also years of con;tant unrest and insecurity; the Honch0-sciki(1) wbich deals wilh this period provides copious referertces to the difficulties of the times and the measures adopted to protect the people from them {"' ). It might be of interest to note

here 3 few of the points raised by this record. In the firSt year of Tengyo an earthquake £'1:curred which lasted four months aod culminated in a tidal wave of massive destrUc· tiveness. In order to save the counrry, the court ordered that the Ninno-kyo be recited in all temples. In the third year of this era, when the Taira and Minamoto clans rose up, the aid of the Shinto deity Hachiman was sought by !he court. The rebellion continued several

yea rs and was followed by widespread famine in the provinces, rampant thievery, and more earthquakes ("').

These unfailing hardships seem not only 10 have encouraged the worship of the well­known Buddhist and Shinto protective dcitie;. bur also to have led to a new interest in heretofore unsought avenues of salvation. The s:~me Honcbo-seiki mentions that in the first

year of T cngyo images of male and female deiries, known as Funado-no Kamzi•l, or gods of

:be crossroads, ·were placed on all intersecting patbs in the capital in order to protect the

people from invasion. Jn the fifth year of thi; era, the spirit of Sugdwara no 1\>lichi.zane, a lristOiical figu~ later canonized as a deit:y of k·uers, is said to have revealed its divine

r•) :\fATSUMOTO, op. dl., pp. 28.], 288 f. ("} Ta-T'ang Hsi-yudJi, K)oiXO Tcil<oku

Daig;~kll, 13unladaigaku SOsho, 12, !'?· 2 f.

151

{") M. SKtliATA. CMui SbOmitt SbinkO 110

Kc,Jqa, Tokyo, 19&6. P?· .105·109. {"'") I bid.. pp. 10.5·106.

intentions ('•). At t.he same time, the new Shimo deity Shidaral•l demanded frenzied devo­

tion from the adherents to his cult, and the worshippers of Dai.koku· ten and Ebisu rapidly

grew in number (").

The history of sculpture, especially in remote pans o£ japan, amply documents the religious climate of these centuries. Among the numerous images of Shinto or ShintO.Bud· dhist deitil-s which belong to this period might be mention<XI the 11 rh cent. statue of Zao. gongenl• l, a Shinto manifestation of Sakyamuni, from the Sanbursu-ji in Tottori prefecture, the crude :monymous wood represenrotion o£ a Shinto god from the K<Ulnon-ji in Aichi

prcfecrure, and the image of Nijol•l from Fukuyama (..,}. It might be surmised that just such a religious atmosphere also gave great impetus to the cult of the curious Tobatsu Bishamon·

ten, whose merits were further sanctified by the texts relating his glorious military vie·

tories.

For further aspects o.f the worship of this dc.iry, it is necessary to tum briefly to a discussion of some of the other Buddhist sutras which offer detailed accounts of the efficacy

of devotion to tbis special fonn of VaiSravat;ta on P~tbi,•l. The Bussetm-bisbamon-tennii· !·ro (T aisbo 1245), rranslated by Fa-t'ien in the Sung dynasty, is lllllinly concerned with the warlike attributes of the god. It speaks at length of the value of the special dhiitll!Ji.S in such endeavours as splitting the beads of one's enemies ( .. ). The Maka-vaishr~ramanaya

daiba-shuresha-darani-giki!rl (T aisbO 1246) maintains that he who calls upon Vai§raval)a will be able to thereby procure all means of wealth end achieve fulfillment of any desire. MantrtZJ arc given for every conccivable purpose - from gaining the respect of one's superiors, to

c.btaining rain, summoning and banishing evil spirits, and repairing marital difficulties ("'}.

The Ho ppo -bisbanum-tamon-hi5zii-tenni5-shimm yo-darani-betsu-gyO-giki<• l (T aisho 1250 ),

which purports to be: a translation from the Sanskrit by Amoghavajra, promises protection

for both clerical and lay devotees, and destruction of all enemies of the Law (u). The name

of the text makes dear that Bishamon is here also regarded as a deity of wealth . The

Bishamo1l·letz-gyi5 (TaisbO 1244), again attributed to Amoghavajra, is simply a shortened

redaction of the Konki5my0-kyo, ShitmnO-boni- J, to which we shall now turn.

The Ko11komyi5./..>y0 or Srwan;aprahhasa Siitra was probably composed during the' early

years of the G upta dynasry in India. It was first translated into Chinese in the Nonbern

Liang Dynasty (412-421 A.D.) by Dharmarak?a and again in 552 A.D. by Paramartha. A

third translation by Ya$ogupta appeared some ten years later, and in 597 A.D. a group of

(-"') Ibid., ;.. l06. (") Ibid., pp. 84-111; S. l££AG.A, T. AIW\tATSU,

T. 0MU'J.O, Nibon 1JIJ.kk;0.1bi, Kyoro, o.d., 2. p. 3n.

{") Stkai Bijutsu Zensbii, 5, TOkyo. 1962, fig. 6'.1; T . Ko:<o, Nippcn no Cbiikofw, 3, Tok)-G, 1964, fi8s. H, 15, .31.

{") T ais:OO, 21, p. 218. It might be best to

152

1:Qtc here dt:t t ahholl8h uunc o£ the tat.s in tl:li$ discw.sion mentions Tobatsu by name. that they are DODethcless devoted to this deity can be s«:: from their de=i{>(ioos of the god u res:bg on Prth.ivi.

{" ) Taisi>O, 21, .pp. 220a, 234o. ("') T aisbO, 21, pp. 2}0a, 232c.

monks made a new text by supplementing Dharmarak~'s translation with that of Paramar­tha. In 703 A.D. 1-ching retranslared the text from the original Sanskrit (").

The first wriuen evidence for !he SuuOJ{:aprabbtisa Siitra in Japan is an entry in the Nibon-shOki dated 676 A.D. From this time onward its circulation throughout the country

is repeatedly noted in the historical chro.-ticles (").

The text opens u-irb a philosophical discussion on rhe nature of the ultimate reality

and an exposition of the fundamem.al truths of Buddhism. At the end of this dissertation, the c:mphouis ohifts from mctaphpical questions to more mundane concerns, an cnumet3-

tioo of the merits of reciting this siitra - fir;dy, the armies of the king who adheres to this text will be strong, and the rulcr himself will be free from enemies; his country will be

exempt from epidemics, and his life will be long and prosperous; secondly, the princes,

princesses and imperial concubines will live together in harmony and be without slander and quarrels; third!}', the priests and the common tx-ople alike will uphold the Buddhist lAw

illld sow their .fields of merit; lastly, all v,.;ll be protected by the four Lokaptilas led by \' aistall3.l)A, and all will strive thus unhindered towards enlightenment (''•). Similar state­

menrs appear in later chapters, the Mukm-kondo-Xt11Jge-bon, Sbitenni5-kansatsu-ninden-bon, and the Sbitenno·gokolat-bonl-">. Vai&rovaQa is the main spokesman in all of these cbapters, where he vows to defeat all annies which threaten the worshipful king, and conversely to forsake the neglectful monarch and thus bring upon him and his subjectS all maru1er of

calamities ( .. }. The results of reciting the dbaral}l to VaiSrav3.9a given here include finding

buried treasure, understanding the speech of animals, and gaining one's wisbes c••). It is obvious from this review of selccte:l te.xts related to TobatSU Bishamoo that his

worship w:IS focused upon procuring for the devotee pure!}' mundane benefits - chiefly security from enemy auacks and wealth. The Suvar1faprabhas!1 Siitra has added still another new and important dimen;ion to his cult - the dose association of Vaisrava~a witb the

king.

Unfortunately, ".rritten records tell us next to nothing of devotion to T obatsu Bishamon by the Japanese imperial court and military clans, although the chronicles are full of refer­

ences to ceremonies involving the Sucan_UJprabhiisll Siitra and to reverence paid the four LoktTpalas. Outside of the Toji, Seiryoji and Kuramadera statues with their traditional

connection to the official circles, there is no other positive evidence that this exotic form of the Guardian of the North was gi\·en spe:ial consideration by the imperial group.

Another important side of the worship of Tobatsu in Japan which this text illuminates is the connection of this deity with Sri (KichijO-ten) and Sarasvat1 (Benzai-ten). In the

(,.) lnuodllCiion to tbc Kor.Mmfok;:o in the: KCJktryQ.(,u DtZizO."'>'O, 13, pp. S ££. The tat has bc<n tt:mslatcd into Ger1:12n by J. Noau, Smmr· IJ"Prt:bba:sa Ssitr4 ( Das GoJdgl•nz SuJnz), 2 vols., Leiden, 1958.

{") J. IMASlnRO, c Nibon ni okc:ru ShitenOO.

153

zo no Kigen », Bukk)·o Grijutsu, 59, De<:. 1965, p. 65.

{") Konkorr.yi'>-1<}"0, Bunbnsu Sanshir.·bo11, pp. 34 ff.

(U) Ibid., p. 113. ( .. ) Ibid., p. 122.

Shitenno-gokoku-bo11 the de\<Otee desirous of seeing VaiSra..-:1\U is instructed to paint first an

im~ge of Siikyamuni with Sd at his left and V aisravaJ]a at his right (" ). The iconographical

srud.ies of the Kamakura period indicate that Sri was regarded as the wife of Bishamon-ten;

the Bisha;nolz-giki of Amogha,•ajra often named in these works represents her as his main

follower (••).. It is necessary to note that the chapter in the 5urxm_:aprahh4sa Siitrtt under

discussion speaks only of Vaisrav~a and not of his special form as Tob:llsu Bishamon;

however, the dose association of VaiSravaJJa with Prtbivi which is found in this ten sug· gests the Tobatsu Bishamon-ten. and both the Khotanese emphasis upon Sri as the wife of

the god and the Central Asian paintings which picture Tobatsu with the goddess justify our

mention of the couple here. The presently known examples of VaHrava!)a and Sri from

Japan do seem, nonetheless, to prefer the mare usual form of the god. The two are also

sometimes figured with Zennishi, who seems to have been regarded as their child. One of

the most famous representations of this divine family is that on the Kuramadcra shrine, the

Sri of which bears a elate of 1127 A.D. ( .. ). A second depiction of the group is to be found

at Shirasaka in Rikuzcn (the modem Miyagi prefecture}, and has been attributed to Sai­

chO ("}. 1he devotioo to this ensemble of parems and child seems to be of a different

character than the worship of the fearsome Tobatsu as a guardian of the state, and probably

bdongs to a more popular conccption of religion tinged with elements of Folk beliefs. This brings us to one of the most significant features of the worship of this strange deity in

medieval Japan.

It was noted earlier that a mark~d transformation occurred between the first rcpresen·

rations of Tolmsu Bisbamoo in the Early Heian period and the Fujiwara period depictions

of the god which tended to minimize his exotic aspects and to a rapprochement with image~

of native folk deities. This process was so striking in the case of Pfthivi, that one writer

has gone so far as to identify the fc:male .figure on the Seattle Tohatsu (fig. I } as Jingij

Kogo<xl, the consort of the Emperor Chiiai (traditional dates 192-200 A.D.) C'}. There is

definite evidence that attempts were made tO assimilate Bishamoo into the native pantheon,

and at least one text reveals that Tobatsu Bishamon was not exempt from the 3Jllalgamation

of Buddhist and Shinto gods so common from the 12th cent. onwards. In some areas VaiSrav~a seems to have been teg;1rded as a form of Hachiman (10

) . The ShintO-shii of

Seikaku< .. l ( 1167-1235 A.D.) notes that he was also consiclered as the original form of Chi­

chibu-daibosatsu (Chicbibu-hiko-no-mikoto)<••l, the local deity of Mus:~shi ("). This l11St fact

is particularly relevant to our study as the Shint0-$hti quotes mainly from the tex'tS specifi­cally devoted to Tobatsu Bishamon. Lastly, VaiSrav:~.Qa was also induded in the Shicbi-fu.ht· ;m, the seven gods of prosperity, whose worship was spread all over Japan C'}.

('') fbid .. p. 122. (-'j T aisi:O. 21, p. 22&. ( .. ) YunKA, op. cif., pp. 56-66. ( " ) T. YAMADA, « Rikuzen Sh:rastka no Bi·

sh:omon·tcn •, K70Jo Krnkyu, ) , no. J. ·P· 160. (" ) R.E. l'cu~ ]::p,;r.ts~ Art in tb~ Semle

154

}.fustum, ~ttk; 1960, r:nuy 34. 1 h3ve not been :lb!e to loc:ue the source for this ickntific::otioJl.

( .. ) YAMADA, op. tit., p. 161.

(~) MIIS4Sbi R.okr•sbO Daimyojinji (SbiJrt(>.sbii, 23). p. 98.

c••) Ko;i-r:ti~n. Sbingi·bu, p. 88.

In summary, this account of the worship of Tobarsu Bisbamon in Jnpan has te\•ealed

the following: 1) Tobatsu Bishamon wns worshipped according to the textS os a god of pros­

perity and protection; 2) outside of the few K>'l3to statues there is no evidence of oHicinl

patronage of his cult, rather his images tend tO resemble those of the local Shinto gods. This observation has led ns ro su~ mat his major devotees were probably the common

people, among whom the dcity must have lo>t his exotic flavour as be merged with the

members of the local pantheon. 3) Lasdy, the socio-religious atmosphere in which the culr

of T obatsu flourished v;as marked by rapid political upheavals and natural disasters, and by a fe~;erish interest in a wide \'<lriety of practices designed to obtain mundane benefits and security.

3. Tobatsu Bishamon in China

It is possible that the earliest represenrations of Tobatsu in China are the 5th cent.

1\.D. guardian figures at Yiin-kang, Cave 8 (fig. 11 ). They are two of a set of four such and

wear win~--d caps. Both hold lances in one hand; in the other are elongated objects which

might be rcganbl as vajras or as money purses. These figures seem to stand at a higher

level than the other rwo. This suggests that perhaps there is something under their (eet;

however, the stone is too abraded to conclude that the sculptures rest on the bust of a

woman. Both Soper and Omura Seigai have, nonetheless, proposed the identification of

these Yiin-kang figures with Vais:ravaJ:ta ( .. J. From these ambiguous th·arapilas to the first positively identifiable Tobarsu Bishamon

starues is a gap of several hundred years. The earliest, fig. 12, is from Szechwan, Chiung

Hsia, Lung-bsing-ssu1" 1 ("'). It is published as an early T'ang work, but it is possibly even

earlier. lbe slender fonn, triangulu contours of the skirt, and the delineation of the cir­

cular patterns on the arms and leg gear all clearly relate tbis figure to the more sophisticated

Toji T obatsu; however, the benevolent facial expression and the relaxed pose are unique.

The treatment of the tiny form of flrthivi betwec:n the legs of this s;arue is similar to tbe

handling of the earth goddess in the Rawak Stupa figure (fig. 13) and the Taxila Vi~QU

(fig. 14) which will be discussed below. Despite the obvious concern of the sculptor of this

piece vtith the elaborate details of ornamentation, the overall execution remains somewhat

crude. The l:uge head seems to upset the balance of rhe whole, and the parts of the hod)' arc not at all organically conceived.

The Tobatsu from the Lung-hung-cssu, alsu in Szechwan, is far more relined than the

previous example and probably dates around the middle or late 9th cent. A .D. (fig . 15) (").

( .. ) A. SoPER, Utt!ti3)' Evidtm:t /OT EPI)' Buddbitt Art in Chir:ll, 1\.scona, t959, p. 23-1: S. 0MvRA, Sbin.: BiitrtuNbi, Tokyo, 1915. ?· 184.

("") K. SASAXI, .-Tobarsc BishomQn-:zii ai tnJilc: no lchthnsatsu •, Biptsu·shi, JS, \·ol. 10, 2, Nov. 1960, p. 58.

(") Tbe statue: is introdu«'CC ia J. L.\RTJCUE.

155

• Le Smoume Bouddbique du Long Hong Sscu 3 Ki~ Ting•. RAil, V, 1928, pp. 3.5-JS, whe'e it is incorrectly idc:ntHit<l as Av•lokitdv:lr•. Uafoztun3tdy no further infDI1Mtioo srout this temple could be four.<!. Ftg. 15 is t3ken from this article.

The ftgure slallds on Pfthivi who is flankerl by Niranba and Biranba. He wears the long·

skincd Central Asian armour which, in its les~ angular and smoother contours, shows some concessions to the more usual T'ang dynasty costume of guardian deities. Two arcs rise from either shoulder and encircle the head in a wide sweep. The crown is the familiar four-panelled one encountered in the TOji Tobatsu. The proportions of the figure, its dress, and the extreme S\tbtlety of execution all clearly foreshadow the superb artistry of the statues o£ this god in th;: Kyuto temples.

Another Tobatsu from S7.echwan is pictured in fig. 16 ("). It is found in the Lohan­t'ung, aad probably dates from the lOth or 11th cent. A.D. The ngure wears the bird­

crown and typkal long-skined armour, a.nd is supported b}' the goddess of the earrb. The torso seems rigid and taut;: both arms rest flat against the chest, thereby helping to increase the tension of the form, and contain rhe vital energy within the triangular contour of the statue. The diagonals of the skirt, sword and ;leeves all tend upward to the puffed and

angry face and the e.~panderl chest, bringing to a focal point the violent force embod.ied within. The artributes the god holds are not entirely clear from the single photograph available. The right hand might be holding a cilttoma!Ji, and the left hand, a gourd. The figure is cruder than the Lung-hung·SSU Tob3tsu and seems to be more provincial in character.

The last Tob:ltsu known from Szechwao is in the Ta-tsu<••> caves (fig. 1 i ) and is as late as the 13th or 14th cent. A.D. (""). The carving is extremely rough, and the huge torso

and tin}• head are ill-ronceived. The armour is the long-skined Central Asian variety so often seen before, and the bird-crown and shoulder Jlames similarly conform to the standard representations of this dcity.

The only other Tobatsu known in China comes from the southern province of Yiinnan. Here Tobatsu is one of the four lokapofas and adorns the base of a sliipa roughly dated 110}-1252 A.D. (""). Like aU the examples discussed above, he rests on Prthivi, in this

case accompanied by the two Jak!11$, and wears the polygonal b.ird<rawn.

Tf:e actual character of the worship of Tobatsu Bishamon in China is even more ob­

scure than in Japan. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the name " To­batsu » has yet to be discovered in any Chinese document; we will try to limit ourselves, as bc:st is possible, to those texts which for various reasons seem to be devoted to the new

form of Vaisraval).a on Pr thivi.

There is an entry in the Sung dynasty T'u-lma Chien-wbt-chibC"'-l which states that the

T'ang personage Che Tao-dt'ien<'"l transmitted a unique form of VaiSrav~a from Khotan to

China ("'); however, his possible representations at Yiin-kang, and certainly the Luog­h~ing-ssu figure would indicate that Tobatsu was known much bdore this dare. Moreover,

( 31) Sast..'O, op. cit., p. 58; We~<-wu, 1956, 12, p. 19.

('•) PubEsbe<l i a WWA, op. cit., and c Te· tsu shih-kc », Wbz-Wtl, 1958, 12.

156

(") L. FP.'OT, V. GOl..ot1Bz:, c Le F"" Tseu T'a de Y= », BEFEO, Xh'V, 1925, Pi'· 435-148.

(<>) MnsuMOTO, op. cit., p. 450.

the localization of the majority of the known images in S:zecbwan suggests tbac this western

province may have bcc:n a centre of the cult of Tobatsu; the wall paintings at Cheng-tu are also said to show numerous representations of VaisravaJ):a (").

The An-hsi legend indicates that at least by the middle of the T'ang dynasty the wor· ship of VaisraVaJ):a standing on city gates v.:as \\•idespread, and the Japanese sources further hint that it was indeed Tobatsu Bishamon who served this function. Omura Scigai has noted

rhat following the supposed rescue of An-hsi, the Emperor ordered that all temples con­struct a sep1r2te hall devoted to the worship of V!li.Sr.IYllDll. Thi$ pr11ctice <>pp<!'lrs in records of the Fh·e Dynasties as weU ("). An entry in the Hsing·t'ang-ssu P'i·sha-men· t'ian-wang-cbi preserved in the T'tt·hua-cbil•il similarly attests to the popularity of Bishamon

in the T'ang dynasty and to the belief in his abilities to save his devotees from c-.Ua­mities C').

All of the siitras discussed in the section on Japan, wi th the ob\'ious exception of the Suvar!'aprabbasa Siitra, were probabl>· compo;ed in China and may be taken to closely reflect the aspirations of the adherents of the cult of Tobatsu Bishamon. They also indicate

the popular nature of his worship. In iliis connection, it is worthwhile to consider the relationship between the Tobatsu Bishamon in China and the local village deities, who were similarly thought ro guard villages from their 1•anta.,oe points on the gates, and to grant

their devotees -u•calth and success.

The belief in China in spirits inhabiling the walls of the city and watching over its

inhabitants is very ancient. The Tsa Chuan contains a reference to prayers offered to the gods at the town walls. Later records frequently attribute astonishing military success to

their good will (•'). The T'ang dynasty seems to have been the period of their greatest popularity, and there is :u least one written doc~t which hints at an e"change of ideas between the d...-vocccs of rhe ci ty-waU spirits and the worshippers of the An-hsi Tobatsu Bishamon·ten. In the biography of Chung J!••l recorded in the Snng-sbih is a short tale of

Su ChienC•'l, a general killed at the battle of [-jou. In order to avenge his own death, Su returns to the bau1e6eld and leading his troops from the north, announces himself to the

terrified onlookers as Su, the deity of the village walls. The people then erect a shrine to him, in a final attempt to placate his wmtb ('"}. The description of Su Chien appearing from

the north with his entourage is an exact parallel to the story of Tu Chien and his soldiers proceeding from the northern quarter in the An-hsi leg;:nd.

It seems likely, then, that just as in Japan the worship of Tob:usu Bishamon was part of a more general interest in deities of protection and w~-alth, so in China did Tobatsu

fmd kindred spirits with whom he could be associated and finally amalgamated. The con· tact of t.he Ounese Tobatsu and k'O!l divioitic:> u{ the village gates may hzve led to the

!'") T. NAKAGAW,\ , « Bunbsbi yori mitaru Shi Sbu •, TokyO Tdsbirsu HaJ:ub:.rsNI:<t>: Koen-slni, l, 1926,:p. 25.

(") 0MURA, op. dt., p. 450.

157

(••) Ibid., p. -175. (") T. N"sA. c Sltioa ni okeru Tosbi no

Sbug<Hhin » , Shir.a Gaku, i. nos. 3-4, P?· 69 ff. ( .. ) Ibid., p. St.

formulation of the An-hsi lcg.end, which, we have seen, was much re5pcctcd in Japan as

well. The similarities of their functions might ha\<e hastened the fusion of the cui ts of the new god and the ancient folk deities; at any rate, such a process assuredly guaranteed the exotic deity enduring popularity among the common people.

4. Tohatsu Bishamon 111 Central Asia

The history of Tobatsu Bisbamon in Central Asia is extremely complex. It is perhaps best to begin with a discussion of his representations at T un-huang and Wan Fo Hsia, aod then cons.ider the Kbotanese cult of Vaisrn-r.;ga which dillers in some respects from his worship in China and Japan and yet, seems closer to the original conception of the deiry.

The painting of Tobatsu at Wan Fo Hsia appears in the antechamber on the north wall, \\'est of the entrance to the main chapel, 211d dates from the mid 9th cent. A.D. (fig.

18)( .. ). The figure is d ad in the long Central Asian armour and stands apparently not on

Prthhfi, but on a prostrate demon flanked by Niranba and Birnnba. He holds a stupa in his left hand 2nd a trident bearing Bags in his right. The nimbus is the usual double arc coming from the shoulders. The figure is attended by a small boy who holds a cinliimt:'}i and a mongoose, the usual attribute of Kuvera in India and T ibet. The significance of the

young attendant has been discussed by Matsucnoto Eii.chi. The St~varT_!aprabbiisa Siilra and t.hc Hopj»hishamon-tmnO-zui-gunpo-hO-shingon both refer to Bishamon's manifesting himself as a child (.,). In the former text, the child god holds a cinliima'}i and a sack of gold. The

mongoose, often interpreted as a living purse, could well be considered as a substitute for the sack, and the child would then be Bishamon himself. Matsumoto gives a second pos­sibility, that he is Zennishi, the son of the deity. The third alternative he suggests asso­ciates the group with Khot~esc legends of the childless king who was granted offspring in snswer to prayers addressed to Bishamon (see below). The first proposal seems the most

likdy in the light of another representation of Tobatsu Bishamon and the child from Tun­huaog which will be treated below.

Opposite the Wan Fo Hsia Tobatsu is a painting of a goddess who is ideoiliied by inscription as Sarasvati. The illustration of VaiSravaga and a female partner so common in

Japan, can thus be associated with the cult of Tobatsu Bishamon in Ccoual Asia and can be seen to have had a long history behi.'ld it.

Matsumoto has noted ten major examples of Tobatsu Bishamon from Tun-huang ( .. ).

The fust of iliesc, fig. 19, is found twice in cave 14 to the left of the main image. Both figures stand on Prthivi, who is enshrouded in leafy vegetation, and bold lances in their right hands and stupas in their lefr. They have long swords which bang diagonally from

( 61 ) L. WAA.t'fE&, BuddbiJt Wail Paintu:gr, A Stt~dy oj tbe Ninth Ct11tury Gro/lo a/ Wan Fo Hria, Cambridge. M3$s., 1938, p!. Xll.

158

("') MATSUMOTO, op. cil. ? · 460; Konl<lmryO­J:yo, cir .• ;>. I2J; TllishD, 21. p. 230•.

{ 04) M.nsu~roro. op. dl., pp. 412-418.

the waist and crisscross with shorter blades suspended horizomally from the belt. Flames

rising from the shoulders encircle the head. These figures have been dated to the period of the Five Dynasties( .. ).

Fig. 20, a painting on silk now in the British Museum, shows a crudely drawn To­

hatsu on P~vi, with all the attributes repeatedly noted as characteristic of this deity. Fig. 21, in the same museum, is one of the rare precisely dated images o£ the god. It is a wood-block which exists in several difie.reru impressions and bears a date of 947 A.D. ( .. ). 1he occomprulyillg inscription gives the o91Tie of the donor ~long with his official tirles and

tells us further that the image was made in the hope of securing peace and prosperity for the Chinese Empire. Tobatsu stands in the centre of the picture. He is dressed in the long­

skirted armour which shows the sun and moon as chest ornaments, a feature noted in the Kyoto Tohatsu (figs .. 4-6) as well. He is attended by the same young boy encountered at Wan Fo Hsia, who here weus an animal pelt, and by another curious demon also dressed

in a tiger skin and holding a naked child. Matsumoto has identified this second figure as Shakuniba<• .. J, who appears in the Bishamon-temr~yo ('A). 1be female at the left is proba­

bly So. Fig. 22, a Five Dynasties silk painting of Tobatru, now in the Musee Guimet, provides

a close parnllcl to the Tobatsu in the Daigoji-nnoshii {fig. 9}. The drawing is somewhat

immature, but the figure is entirely faithful to the iconographic type which had obviously gained currency in the Tun-huang region.

Pig. 23, now in a private collection in Japan, shows a seated Tobatsu inside a circle. The flames at the shoulders have been further surrounded by a full halo; and in front of the figure, is a table with offering$. Two devotees in Chinese costume stand at the sides in worshipful attitudes.

In addition to lhes<: paintings discussed by Marsumoto, there are several others also from Tun-huang which are dealt with in an article by ~1arcelle Lalou ("'). Fig. 24 belongs

to the group of images of the god and child attendant. Here rhe boy, wearing :m animal skin, holds a full sack and a jewel and probably is the child Bishamon of the Suvar~Japra­bbilla Sutra. Sri stands to the left of the main figure. The lower images of PFthivi and the

two yttk!as have been eliminated, bur the presence o£ the other standard attributes o£ To­hatsu is sufficient to confirm the identification.

Fig. 25 is unique in the presence o£ the small figure of ~eSa at the lower left of: the painting. Lalou has made a study of the confusion between Vaisra"R¥ and ~e§a in the Tibetan te.ns { .. ). 1be Japanese text, the ~\!akA-vaisburamanaya-daiba-shur~sba.Jarani­

giki has the interesting statement that VaiSrav~a may stand either on Prduvi or on Ga-

(") Ibid., p. 418. ( .. ) Ibid., p. 420. (.,) Ibid., p. 420. (.,) M. LA.LOU, • Mythologic I ndlenne et

Pcinturcs de Houte Asie. I: Le Dieu Bouddblque

159

de b Fo::tUoo, AAs, IX, 19~6, pp. 97-110. (.,.) Io., ibid., A. FocCHER in his Introduction

to A. GuTY, Ganna, Oxford, 1930, pp. xxii-xxiii Ius also 001ro the close relationmip ~·em Gll.l)da and Vaisrm•Q•·

c:tcia ( .. ). It is clear r:bat Prthivi was dlC original support of the god, but the further men­

tion of r:be e.lephant-headed deity and this painting add new dimensions to the cult of To­batsu Bishamon in its esoteric practice.

Moving westwatd from Tun·huang, we come to Khotan, whim was a major centre of

the worship of Vaisrava,r:~a and where many have placed the origin of the Tobatsu Bish·

runon-ten. The main evidence for his cult in this oasis is literary; however, the Rawak Sriipa statue (fig. 13), dating probably from the Jrd or 4th cent. A.D., has been identified as Tobatsu by tl>.e annour, tbe rigid s~nce, and the presence of the sroill fel1lllle figure ~t

the feet of the god. This is possibly the earliest reptesentation of Tobatsu Bishamon yet discovered.

The written legends of the founding of Kbotan establish at once the intimate connec­tion of that state with the Buddhist Guardian of the North. They are preserved in Chinese

and Tibetan t~<s, which difier slightly. Both agree that the 6rst king o! Khotao was born

in answer ro prayers to Vaisravarya sometime during the reign of the Emperor Asoka; that he grew up in China, and that he only later joumeyed to Khotan and began his rule c•J.

The detailed account of the first king given in the Tibeta.n Prophecy of the Li Country, composed sometime before the 9th or lOth cent. A.D., begins with a visit of Asoka and his

consort to Khotan, where the consort sees Vaifrava~ and his divine retinue flying through

the sky, and mi=lously, she becomes pregnant. A:Soka abandons the child born to her,

for fear he may some day usurp the throne. A bn.'llst appears from the earth to nurse the

foundling, who is then transported to China iu answer to the supplications of Ch'in Sbih Huang-ti With his wife, Sri, the hero proceeds at last to Khotan, where he becomes king (").

1n the OUnese accounts no mention is made of Sri, and the appearance of the breast of the earth is linked with another tale of the offspring of the king of Kbotan. According

to Hsiian-tsang, a child is born from the head of a starue of VaiSravac:ta, in answer to the

prayers of the first Khotanese king and is nursed by a breast of the earth at the feet of the image (").

The significance of these Legends for us lies not in their minor differences but in their unanimous attribution of the line of Khotane;e kings to the bounty of Vaisrav3.1p. The

same deity is also said to have fixed the boundaries of Khotan. In Tibetan accounts he is

assisted by Sariputra, and in the OUncsc texrs he acts alone (").

In addition to this relationship to the found)jng of Khotan, Vaisravac:ta also seems to have been regarded as one of its tmclary diviniries. In the Tibetan sources, he is joined

(••) TsishO, 21, p. 235. ('

0) A. RO.wsAT, /Ustoire de Ill vifle Je

Kbo:at: tirl~ du Ar.r.c!es de 14 CbiM et tr11.duiu Ju Cbinois. Paris; 1820, p. }8; F. W. THC}MAS, Tiheltm Li!etJTj' T t>Xll Ctmc~rnitsg Chines~

160

1"urknt({J1, Loodon. 1935, p. 1 i. ( " ) THOMAS, op. dt., p. 99. (") Tv-T'ang Hsi·yu-chi, cif., I, pp. 25-27. (") Ri.">tus.n, op. tit., p. )8; Tno~!AS, op.

t;it. , p. 35.

Fig. I - Tobmu Bishomon·tcn. Central Japan. Late I01h ccn1. A. D. Seal/le Atl Museum.

Fig. 2 - Tobauu Di!hamon-cen. From Tasshln-jl, Hyogo 'P"fcccure. IOth·llth cent. A. D. (from IKAWA, • Chilcn ... •,

cif.).

Fig, 3 · Tobacsu Bishamon·tcn. From Ta" hin·ji, Hyogo prefecture. IOth·llth ' enc. A. D. (from lKAWA, • Chiten ... »

ell.),

Fis. 4 • Tobauu Bishamon·ten at Toji. Chinese. une 9th-early lOth cent . A. D.

F.,. ' · Tobmu Bishamon·tcn 11 SciryO-ji. lOth cent. A. 0 .

Fig. 6 • Tobatsu Bishamon·tcn 11 Kuremadcra.

Fig. 7 · Tobauu Dishomon· t~n. C<!nuol Jmp3n. Mid II th cent. A. D. Collection of Howard Hollit

(from lKAWA, • Chiten ... •. dt.).

Fig. 8 • Tobnuu Dishnmon·ten. Central Jopan. IIth crnt. A. D. Dmvtr Art Murcum, Cot. no. 0·836 <from the Colltc•

lion of Chri11ian Humann).

~

,.

~ \ ~·'

.~)l; ·~ :. ' ?

) il· -i· .. -I· :. I

J j • . ,

Fig. 9 • Tobauu Bishomon·ten in • Daigoji·tu:ilJhii manuscript. Kamokura period ropy (drAwing) alter

n 9th cent. A. D. original.

Fig. 10 . Skond• . From Kofir Ko1. Gondhiiro art. Britilh Mur~um, London.

Fig. 11 . Gu.,dian figur~. Yiln-ltang, C.v~ 8. ~th cent. A. D. Fig. 12 . Tobatsu Bishamon-~tn. Fro.: Lung-h•ing-ssu, S>echwan. Early T'ang o.

torlier.

Fig. B - Guardian figut.s. Rawak Stupa. ·

-·~

Ftg. 16 • Tobatsu Bishomon·tcn. Lohan-t'ung, Szecbwan. lOth-IIth «nt. A. D.) (from SASAKI, c T <>

hatsu ... », cit.).

Fig. 17 · Tobatsu Bi•hamon-ren. Ta·tsu, Suchwan. 1Jth·l4th rent. A. D. (from .lKAWA, c Ta·tsu ... », cit.).

Fig. 20 - T ohatsu Bislwnon-ten. Painting on sillc, £rom Tun· hWL">g. Brililh Mu~m, l.tJndon.

Fig. 21 - Tob•uu Bi$b.1.mon·t<n. Woodblock dated 947 A. D., from T un-huang. BritiJh l.fuJtum, London.

Fig. 24 • T<>batsu BiWmon-ten. From Tun.huang. Mu•& Guim~t. Puis.

Fig. 2' • T<>batsu BiJho.mon..tm. From Tutl­haang_ Mu!.<!~ Guimn, Ptuis.

Fig. 26 - Offtri.o& or four bowls. I:llwil of Vailia~ G~ra art. Glli Co/kcliOil,

PnluWD.

Fig. 27 • Pinc:ika and Hiriti. From Shih-ji·ki J;lheri. Gandhau arr. Puhtt:Dtrr M .. uum, No. 1416 (from WclloLT, Gatulbu~n~ Art_., ciJ.}.

Fig. 28 • Pharo and Ardox!o. From Sahri Bahlol P~sb•w•r fig. 29 • Pharo OD a late min o£ ~ka. ).(,,,. . ..... 1\1,. 7flll

F~g. 30 • Pbaro and ArdoxSo. From Avantisvim" Temple, Avamipura. 6th-7th ccnL A. D. ( frott

ASIAR. 191J-14, pi. XXVIII).

Fig. 32 · S=WI silver vcsscl. Hetnti!agt Museum, Lening,aJ ( from L 'OUNCE, Studi•s •.. , cif.).

Fig. 31 . V~u. From NepaL 6th-7th cent. A. D.

by Sri and Bhfunidevi, the goddess of the earth (''). These texts also n.ame numerous

temples either dodicatcd to this god or under his special protection (" ).

Ir is clear from this discussion that rhe worship of VaiSrav~a in Khman was more than a simple folk cult devoted ro a guardian of military valor and wealth. VaiSravaJ}a created Khoran and insured as well the continuance of irs line of kings. These moru=hs seemed to have actually regarded themselves as his divine offspring. Wrilten evidence reveals that

they assumed the title Jeuaputra, V.'hich was r~scrved for a particular class of deities, and which is gl-;o the mme by which VaittaVllJ?.ll is known in some o£ the Buddhist texts (").

Their usage of this title, current among the Kushan kings after Kao~ka, and the panicular relationship of rhe Khota.nese kings to the Northern King of Buddhism, is one of the most important clues we possess in undetsiJillding rhe origins of the Tobatsu Bishamon and the mystezy of his unique fonn. We shall return to this question after a brief consideration of

other legends which CliJl be related to Tobar;u and which were collected by Hsiian-tsang iu India.

5. V aiirtW11!14 in the K11shan Realm

It is no longer proper to speak specifically of Tobatsu Bishamon as opposed to Bisha­mon; however, Hsiian-tS3f18 in his travels from Olina to India noteS two images of the divine King in parts of the countty which on:e belonged to the Kusban realm and which

are pertinent to our study. At the Navasat!Jghiiriima in Balkb was a statue of V aisrava~a. 1ne story was told that when the Hsiung-nu chief Ych-hu had attempted to steal the

aeasures of the temple, VaiSravaJ?.a appeared to him in a dream and pierced him with a sword, thus putting an end to the barbarian's wicked schemes (").

At KapiSa the pilgrim found a statue of a divine king beneath whose feet the hostages of King Kani~ka were said to have buried some money to be used for future repairs oo the

temple. Whm a thief had appeared to steal this money, a bird on the: crown of this guardian figure llapped its wings so .... ..Udly that the earth began to tremble and the rogue lay prostrate on the ground. Upon rising, he was converted to :Buddhism ("). It is gener.illy accepted by the Japanese scholars quoted in this paper that the divine king of KiipiSa is none other than Tobatsu Bishamon; the bird on the croa."Jl is, as we have seen above, one

of his most characteristic attributes. There is no definite proof of this identification; howe-.-er, the legend remains highly significant in this study for its mention of a guardian

of wealth with a winged cap, a figure whom we shall connect wi th the prototype for the Tobatsu Bisbamon-ten which exists in Kushan period reliefs.

{" ) Tuo~tAs, op. cit., p. 59. C") Ibid., pp. 96, 110. 118, 121, 127. (") S. Ltv1, • 0.:..-aputr:l "• JA, I, Janv;er·

Man 1924, p. ll ; F. W. THOMAS, « D~uopulr4 :.,

161

B. C. Law Co111memou.riott V<>lum~. ll, Pooruo, 1946, p. 310.

('t) Ta-T'ang Hri·)'u-<bi, dt., I, p. 28. (" ) Ibid., I, p. 37.

6. The Origins of tbe Tobatsu Bishamon and !he Significance of His Symbols

Before commencing this discussion it might be best to review some of the main charac. teristics of Tobatsu Bishamon as evidenced by the written sources and his visual represen­IJOtions. Tobatsu is depicted in the siilras and the legends at once as a generous giver of wealth and long life, and as a fierce destroyer of enemies of both the Buddhist State and

the Buddhb< Law. In Kbotan be seems to have also been regarded as the tutelary divinity of the loot( dynasty - a feature entirely in accordance wi th the Vaisravaua of the Suoar· !Jilprabhasa Siilra. In art Tobarsu \V3S invariably depicted as a figure wearing armour held up by the goJdess of the earth and crowned with a polygonal crown bearing a bird. His

nimbus was formed from two arcs arising at the shoulders. In addition, some Tibetan tc.-<ts mention that discs of the sun and moon were to be displayed beneath the god (").

All of these features seem at ftrSt a far cry from the p lacid representations of Vaisra· vaJ;ta·Ku..,era in pre.Guptan Gandbiran art, v:bere the Guardian of the Nonb was generally

not even distinguished from the other three Lokaptilas. Fig. 26, a 3rd cent. A.D. relid

in the Gai collection, represents a significant departure from this norm ("'). Here Vaisra· \'SJ;ta is clearly differentiated from the othet three kings offering their beuing bowls to the Buddha. Moreover, he bears a striking resemblance to a deity of prosperity and military

Yalor who was frequently depicted in Kushan art, sometimes alo ne and sometimes with his

consort. Fouchcr has idemified the couple as Paiicika and Hariti (8'), and it is to this

« tutelary pair» and a related duo associated with the Iranian deities Pharo and Ardox5o

that we must now turn, for it is here that the development of the Tobatsu Bishamon pro­bably began.

Fig. 27, a relief from Shah·ii ·ki I;>herl, shows the seated P:iiicika and Hiriti (•'). Ac· cording to the Buddhist texts, Paiicika was the senapati or general of the army of Vaisra­\' 31)3, and Hiriti was originally a goddess of smallpox but later became a source of fenili·

ty (83). In this relief, Pancik.:t sits resting his left foot on his lance, and Ha.riti, holding a

purse in one band, is surrounded by children.

In 6g. 28, from Sahri Bablol ( .. ), the male ""ears dte typical northern costume and holds a staff and a purse. The female carries a cornucopia. The parallel between this male deity and the VaiSra...-arp of fig. 26 is striking indeed; both share the same dtess and coif· fure. The attributes of this god, the stall with a round knob, the winged cap, and the purse

are found associated with a deity PharrojPharo on the coins of Ka~ka and his successors. :Pharo is often represented there as an armed warrior wearing a helmet with a bird on it;

(,.) Uahor4jtt-Vciirav3na.sadbtu:t: Tar.lra, R&r· ud, LXXll, qcotcd by LI.LOU, op. cit., p. lOS.

(10) J. M. RosL'<FlUD, The Dy11as1N: Am of tbe Klnbat1.1, Betkele)~Los Angeles, 1967, fi&. 83.

(11) FOUCHER, op. dl., pp. 106 f£.

162

(*") The r~lief is diSC1.1ssed by H. I NGHOL7.

Candhirm: Art in Pakirlan, Ne..• York, 19S7, 9· 147.

(") Rosao1Fr£LD, Dyllaslic Arts ... , cit., PI'· 245 f. ( .. ) Ibid. , pp. 147-148.

his attributes include a purse, shield, lance, and bowl of fire (fig. 29) ("). He represents !he I ranian farr or xvar;nah, the c kingly glory"( .. ). This xuar,mab was regarded not only

a~ the embodiment of the powers of kingship, but also as a tutelary diviniry of the reigning monarch and !he legitimizing factor in his rule. In Iranian literary sources, i t is most com· monly represented as a bird. From !he Pahlavi Kamamak i Artaxier i PiJpakim, we learn

rhat when Ardav'in putsued ArdaSir he was warned that until the eagle flying above reachc:d the flccing Ardaiir be might still be overtaken, but that once the eagle settled on Arda!ir all would be lost, for the bird was none other than the embodiment of lhe majesty of the Persian monarchs (•' ). Elsewbcrc, in the same account, we hear !hat the xutJr;mab in the ft'Oll of a red hawk saved the king from death at the hands of his wife (").

The goddess with the horn of plent}' appears on the coins of Kan~ka Ill and his sue· cessors. She is identified by inscription as Ardox5o or ASi Vailuhi, the Avestan goddess o£ fortune (").

W/e have, then, two comparable representations; one purely Indian, and the other more specifically I ranian in both costume and content. The first relief requires further comment.

The ideological content o£ H:iriti as a goddess of fertilit}' and plenty is self-explanatory; however, nowhcte in the tex<s is Paiicika mentioned as a giver of wealth. That he is here so inte.oded is indicated not only by his preser.ce with Hariti, but also by other reliefs in which he is depicted holding the money purse and stepping on a pot of gold (""). It appears that this figure combines the military atuibutes of the uniJpali Pancika with the benevo­itnce of his master, Ku~-era-VaiSraval)a, the god of we:Uth. This Pancika-Kuvera·Vaisra· Va{la is e.xuemely close in conception to the god Pharo, who was likewise regarded as a protector of wealth and a giver of armed strength.

1be acrual identification of Piiiicika and Hariti with Pharo and Ardox5o was first cstab.

lished by Bachhofcr in the article cited above {"). It is substantiated by such reliefs as that illustrated in fig. 26 where Kuvera·Vaisrav3l)a wears Pharo's wingc:d helmet .omd northern

dress, and by fig. 30, a 6th to 7th cent. A.D. Kashmiri relief in which !he Scythian-looking Pharo-Kuvcra-VaiSrav:J¥ sits upon a pot of plenty and ArdoxSo-Sri holds an object duu is somewhere inbetween a lotus and a cornucopia ('2 ) .

Thus, it can be seen that an independent votive tradition was developing wi thin the Kushan realm for the representation of a male deity of fertility and plenty. This god, Pharo-Pancika·Kuvera-VaiSa-aval)a was sometimes depicted in Indian dress, in northern

couture, or in armour. It is dc:ar that we have here a possible prototype for the Tobatsu

( .. ) L. BACHROFElt, c PaiiciJr.a.fUr!ti und Pbaro.Ardoxsho •· OZ, 1937, p. 8.

( '•) A. STEJ!<, c Zoroami•n Deities on Indo. Scy:lmn Coins • , l mli4n Anliqua11, XVII, April 1888, p. 94.

("') The KJrr.amt: i ArtaJ:mhir i PJpo· k4n, ed. and u . D. P. SA.'1"~"' Bombty, 1896,

163

p. 11.

(") Ibid., p. 40.

( .. ) STEIN, op. dt., ?· 97. ( .. ) foUCHER, op. cit., pis. 365, 379.

c••) See ~00\-e, note 8~.

(•:> ASIAR, 191}.14, -pt. .xxvnr, p. 54.

Bishamon-ten as a lokapiila dressed in the long Ceotl'al Asian armour, wearing a bird-crown, and carrying a lance. 1be religious signilicance of this deity as a giver of wealth and fer­

tility is in complete accord with the legends of Vaisraval)a and the statue of the divine king related by Hsiian-tsang and with the descriptions of the purposes of the worship of Tobatsu Bishamon in the Japanese and Chinese texts. It is our contention that the final connection of the prototype Pharo-Paiicika-Kuvcra-Vni5rav81)A with the fully developed ico­nographical form of Tobatsu Bisbamon-ten can be explained by the Khotaoese legen. dary material, which is unique in the lore of the Tobatsu Bishamon-ten, and by the first element of this composite deity, Pharo or the « kingly glory ». As we shall show below, much of the symbolism of Tobatsu Bishamon can be understood in terms of a cult of deified royally.

In this connection, we shall first consider the rigid frontal pose and the overall trian­gular outline of the images of Tobatsu Bishamon. The Kushao statues of '1Can4ka provide

interesting parallds. The stiff stance, the A-shaped skirt with its decorati\•e borders, the distinctive leg gear and the position of the sword and details of the belt all resemble cor­responding features in tbe Tobarsu illustl'ated above. These elements are shared by other

royal portraits, for example, the sculptures at Surv Ketal, and the portraits of the other Kushan kings on their coins, and by the painting of Siirya over the vault of the niche of

the 120-feet Buddha at Biimiyan, where the regal type is incorporated into a new divine image.

One of the major iconographical features of T obltsu repeatedly noted above is his resting on Prthivi. This is clearly an extension of a concept deeply rooted in Indian religious symbolism. It is found in Gandhiiran Buddhist art in reliefs of the Mahiibhinqkramana and the assault of Mara ("'). Depictions of the earth goddess wimessing the Enlightenment of the Buddha also occur in later Indian Buddhist art and are frequent in Chinese cave sculp­ture, where Prthivi simila:rly holds up the feet of Maitreya ( .. ).

The most striking parallels to Tobarsu on Prthivi belong, however, not to Buddhist sculpture but to Hindu an and are found in representations of the god V~J;~u. Fig. 14 from

Taxila has a small bust of Pfthivi between his legs and is reminiscent of the Lung-hsing-ssu and Rawak Tobatsu (figs. 12, 13) ("'). Fig. 31 from Nepal, and dated in the 6th or ith cent.

A.D., reproduces exactly the configuration of Pfthivi and the two )'llk!at which support the Tobatsu Bishamon-ren in the Tun-huang, Chinese and Japanese images( .. ).

Coomaraswamy provides one possible explanation for the relationship of all these fig­ures to the goddess of the earth: he notes that in the Satapatha BriihmlltJa the king is called

(U) A. GJtilNWE.DEL, Bmlclhirt Art in lntliiZ, Cadcria~. 2nd .,d., 1965, pp. 98-101, figs. .50. 51.

('•) Ctlra/ogue of Buddhist Sculpture in tbe P"tM .Museum, Pat:~a, 19S7, fig. 11; 0. SmiN, Chinese Sculp:uu from !be Fifth to rbe f ottTtrenth Ct,IJ<Tie>, Loodon, 192.5, l, p!s. 138, 139, 145;

164

n. pi. 21s. ( .. ) ]. N. llM"UJEA, The D«!dopmtnt of

Hintftl lcorsogrllpbJ, 2od e<l., C.lcutu, 19.56, pi. XXI. The pbotognpb reprodue<:d ber~ is taken from thls work..

( .. ) The phOtograph is token from M. SL~GH. HimtZI4y:zc Art, Loodon, 1968, p. 175.

Bbiipali, or « husband of the earth » (''). His coronation ceremony is therdorc interpreted as a symbolic marriage of the sky:;::kiog with the earth:;::queen, whose presence at the rite

was thus deemed absolutely necessary.

This interpretation would also accord nicely with the section of the Suv11r1Japrabhiisa Siilra which is often taken to be the source of the Tobatsu·Prthivi connection. In the chapter of this text devoted to the earth goddess, she vows to protect the reciter of the sutra, and concealing her form, to lift up his feet ( " }. The intimate association of the Suvan;raprobbiis11 Siitra with the roylll cult h!1S been repeatedly not.,d ab:we; the merits of

rhis text consist in making c kingly ,. the king who supports it by causing his realm to prosper and his subjects to show him respect. The vow of Pflhivi merely extends the boun·

ties of the Suvf11?taprabhiisa SuJra to all, by raising spirirually and materially anyone who follows its tenets. The presence of Prthivi beneath VaiSraval}a can be understood as the visual rcprcsenration of this ideal of the further exaltation of the god as faithful devotee

and protector of rhe Buddhist Law. Many of the other iconographical elements of Tobatsu Bishamon can be expl3ined as

symbols of royalty. TI;:: sun and moon displayed on the chest of the god and mentioned in the Tibetan texts are common signs of the divine Icing. The Roman emperors and the Iranian monarchs were often featured with the celestial discs ("), and the reliquary of

Kani~ka shows the Kushan king flanked by personifications of the heavenly bodies.

The particular nimbus of Tohatsu, sometimes portrayed as Jlames rising from the shoulders and sometimes as smooth arcs, is also a royal attribute. In regard to the former,

Hsiian·tSallg preserves a legend of Kani~ka, according to which the king subdued an evil naga by releasing 6re from his shoulders (' .. ). Vima and Huvi~ka are also represented on

their coins with flames shooting from theu shoulders. It is otherwise possible to regard rhe smooth arcs in some of the Tobatsu images as the crescents of the moon which were so frequently depicted behind the shoulders of the Sasanian kings oo thcir silver vessels

{fig. 32) ('" }; howC\•er, the more frequent representation of the nimbus as flames favors

the first suggestion.

The presence of the bird on the crown is ooe of the most important links between Tobatsu and the old Kushan period prototype, who wore the wing.,! cap. It seems possible to assert that the bird is a sign of Pbaro, the kingly glory, who in the Pablavi text cited

above most often rook that form. There is a Sogdian Manichacan text from Central Asia which is of interest here, and which at the same time illuminates HsUan·tsaog's legend of

Kapisa. The te...:t tells of a universal monarch, Kysr (Caesar) who was threatened by a thief.

{") A. CooNAKASWAMV, .-Spiritual Authority ~od T empor:~l Po,.•er i:l Indian Theory of Govcmmcnt •, /llOS, 1942, pp. 11 ff.; $atapatbt: Brtihmar.11 9.4.20, ciu:d io the abov<:.

(tl) ·KonkomyO.kyo, cit. (J« above, p. 158 and no:e 36), -p. 162.

165

("')H. R. L'OaANGE, Stuclit:1 on tbt [conQl.rapby of Connk Kinvbip in tb~ Anci~t Wotld, Oslo, J9j3, p. 36.

("0 ) Ta·T'Qng Hsi-yu<bi, cit. (see above, note 27), 1, p. 42.

('"') L'ORA.'i<i£, op. tit., p. 38.

The scoundrel attempted to disguise himself in the form of Phaio, the tutelary divinity of

r.be king ('"). Unforuma.tely, the tale is incomplete; however, r.be association of the king, Pha.ro, and the thief has curious n:scmblana:s to the Kapi5a episode of the divine guardian

king, who bore a bird on his crown precisely to ward off pilferers ( , .. ). The story is, more·

over, an important indication of an awareness of the role of Pbaro as tutelary god of the

king in Central Asia of the 9th or lOth cent. A.D.

1be association of the winged diadem and royalty is auesred by representations of the

Sasanian monarchs in art and by Chinese literary sources which indiClte r.bat the kings of

Khotan wore birdoowns ('H). R. A. Stein ha; noted as well the similariry of the Tobatsu

diadem to that of the Central Asian worlc:konquerors, Pebar and Gesar ('0 ' ) . Gesar is the

hero of the Tibetan epic, and Pehar was the tutelary divinity of the Bha!a Hor or the Uigburs. According to legend, be fled from Vai.Srav~ in the form of a bird but was shot

down by the King of the North and brought to Tibet ('"').

It is not possible to discuss the interconnection of the legends of Tobatsu Bisbamon

and these Central Asian chaiacters; all of this material has been brilliantly treated by Stein

in his work on the Tibetan epic. It strengthens our hypor.besis that the symbolism of To­

batsu Bishamon is intimatdy linked to that of the world.ronqucror or divine king.

In conclusion, there are two Japanese sources whit'h provide additional support for om

theory. The ftrst is a legend preserved in the K11ku:t:msh0<"">, a collection of iconogr<~phical

drawings made by r.be Buddhist monk Kakuzen ( 1143-1213 A.D.). A story is 10ld of a monk in search of a magical jewel in the east of India and of the woman he encounters.

She tdls him of a wonderful bird that is capable of leading him to the ueasure. The

woman turns out to be AvalokiteSI.'lU11, and tht: bird is Vaisravar,ta (""). The signili= of this legend is twofold; it associates Vaisrava!).ll with knowledge of hidden treasure, the

exclusive right of the cakTI:Wilrlin, and, in its mention of the god assuming the form of a bird, it preserves r.be memory of the synthe.is of the Indian deity of wealth and valor

\\·ith the Iranian emblem of kingly power.

1De second work is a now lost siilr11, the Daiban.O·nyoi-tobatsu-zo-o-kyo<"''. It is quoted

in the Asabasho<09> of the Tendai monk Shochot••> done between the years 1251·1266 AD., the Kyiiinbukkakusho, and the Zuzjj.shr.<~> of Konen<"'' (1120-1203 AD.). It states that

Tobatsu is a manifestation of the king Nyoi-zii.o, whose realm was in the north of India by the sands of the Ganges (001

). The text thus preserves some traces o£ the Indian origins of

this deity, and his profound connections with the lore of kings.

("'') STEIN, op. cit., .p. 280. (,.•) Ibid., p. 289. ( "") J..D.ytmg-€bi~./an-chi, dted by MATSUMOTO,

op. cit., p. 437. For the Ss.anian works •ee Gmltsw.~&-.:, op. ci1., pis. 23.5, 242, 252.

(,..) SnL-.:, op. cit., P?· 344-}46_

166

( 1 .. ) R. A. SmN, • Mi-iillg et Si.lfu, Grogxo.pbie H;s:o::ique rr l.Cg<ndc:s Anccsrralcs ,., BEFEO, XLIV, 1951, p. 151.

( ' .. ) Kahn.tnJhO, T aishO Zta.O, 5, p. 534. (•••J Tauho Zuzo, <;;, pp. 418c-419:t.

7. Summt11y

In summary, it has been shown that much of tbe iconogr:~phy of Tobatsu Bishamon

can be explained in tcrms of royal symbols, and it has funhcr been indicated that at least

in Khotan the god actuaUy seems to have been regarded as the source of the state's mon­

archs and the power behind their rule. We have sought to connect this uniquely Khotanese

VaiS!'avaJ;Ja v:ith the Iranian XVIIT~nllb or Pharo, the embodiment of the «kingly glory,.

which merged with the Indian god of wealth P:iiicika-Kuvera-VsiSravs.l)a sometime in the Kushan period.. This new composite deity seems to have enjoyed gteat favor within the

Kushan realm as a god of wealth and fertility; however, there is no definite evidence that h~ was there as.;ociated with a cult of divinized royalty. The importance of Vai.Srav3.1)3. in

Khotan, his connection with their kings, the Central Asian dress of the Tobatsu Bishamon·

ten and the very meaning of the name c Tobatsu » suggest indeed that Khotan may have

been the place of origin of the fully <b·eloped iconographical form of Tobatsu Bishamon.

FmaUy, we have seen the completion ol the maturation of the Tobatsu Bishamon·ten

in his reversion to his original character as a guardian of wealth and fertility, mingled with

a wide variety of folk deities in Otina and japan. Traces of his conception as the syn·

thesis of the l ranian XIJ(IT;JntZb and the Indian P:iiicika-Kuvera-V aiSrav~ are preserved,

however, in the lore of the An-hsi Tobatsu and the legends of the Kakrnen-sho and the AsabashO.

PirrLLIS GRANOFF

167

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