The Wisdom King Fudō 不動明王立像ふどうみょうおうりゅうぞう

Description

Known as Wisdom King Fudō, this fearsome deity stares menacingly with bulging eyes and grimaces to reveal his fangs. An avatar of Dainichi, the cosmic Buddha, he is tasked with destroying evil and converting stubborn unbelievers to Buddhism. Originally, he held a sword that cut through ignorance and a lasso that pulled living beings toward salvation.

The Buddhist pantheon includes a variety of Buddhist deities with different names, appearances, and roles. In esoteric Buddhism, a deity called Dainichi was believed to stand at the center to the universe. Wisdom kings are avatars of Dainichi who serve to promote stronger faith in Buddhism by displaying their furious expressions and menacing appearances. Many wisdom kings therefore have terrifying faces, red or blue skin, or hold weapons. The wisdom king Fudō is a typical example. He has been worshipped in Japan since the 9th century, during the Heian period (794–1192), and many renowned sculptures and paintings of him survive to the present day.

This is a sculpture of the wisdom king Fudō. This image of Fudō has his hair swept back and the tied ends draped over his left shoulder, with both eyes open while biting his lower lip with his upper lip. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the wisdom king Fudō was nearly always depicted sitting, but this sculpture is standing upright. It is valuable as an early example of a standing image of the wisdom king Fudō, a type which was mainly established in the 11th century.

The trunk, including the head and torso, is carved from a single piece of wood, a technique called “ichiboku zukuri.” Most Japanese Buddhist sculptures are made of wood, and cypress and nutmeg were often used in them. This sculpture, however, is distinguished by the fact that it is made of cherry wood. Cherry is rarely used as a material for Buddhist sculptures because it is a dense-grained, hard wood that is not very suitable for carving such images.