Niō 仁王

Also written 二王. Also called *niten 二天 and Niōson 仁王尊. Lit. "two kings" or "benevolent kings." A pair of temple guardians who stand on either side of a temple gate. Their fierce faces with glaring eyes, powerfully muscular bodies, and threatening poses bearing weapons, serve to ward off evil spirits. Typically the Niō are represented as nude from the waist up, although very early images wear chest armor. Generally one opens his mouth, in the *agyō 阿形 position (the shape of mouth saying "a" あ ) and holds a thunderbolt (Sk: vajra, Jp: *kongōsho 金剛杵), while the other closes his mouth, in the ungyō 吽形 position (the shape of mouth saying "un" うん) and holds a large sword. They are sometimes called *Kongō rikishi 金剛力士 and Misshaku rikishi 密迹力士, respectively, indicating two different aspects of one deity named Misshaku kongō 密迹金剛. However, there are various opinions as to the identities of the Niō, and none seems to clearly prevail. Iconographically, Niō are associated with *Shukongōshin 執金剛神. Chinese examples include large rock-cut sculptures at Longmen (Jp: Ryūmon 竜門) and Yungang (Jp: Unkō 雲岡). The earliest Japanese examples are the dry-lacquer *kanshitsu 乾漆 sculptures wearing armor and placed on the Buddhist altar, Shumidan 須弥壇 at Tōdaiji *Hokkedō 東大寺法華堂 (popularly called the Sangatsudō 三月堂, also known as Kongō rikishi; 8th century), and the nude example at Hōryūji 法隆寺 *Chūmon 法隆寺中門 (711). The best known Niō are the huge images at Tōdaiji *Nandaimon 南大門 (1207) by Unkei 運慶 (?-1223) and Kaikei 快慶 (late 12th-early 13th century).