godairiki bosatsu 五大力菩薩

Lit. five great bodhisattvas of strength. Also godairikiku 五大力吼 (five roars of great strength) or godairikison 五大力尊 (five revered ones of great strength). These five bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩 are described in Chapter 7 of the the Buddhist text Ninnōgyō 仁王経 as protecting the lands of kings who uphold Buddhism, particularly through obedience to the Tripitaka or three divisions of the Buddhist canon. These consist of the sutras which are the teachings of the Buddha, the rinaya which are the rules of monastic discipline, and the abhidharma which are the commentaries on the other two. Their order, names, and attributes differ somewhat in the two translations of this sutra, the earlier of which is by Kumarajiva (Jp: Kumarajū 鳩摩羅什, 344-413/350-409) and the second by Amoghavajra (Jp: Fukū 不空, 705-74). In the latter they are referred to collectively as simply the bodhisattvas of the five directions, gohō bosatsu 五方菩薩. In Kumarajiva's old translation kyūyaku 旧訳, they appear as Kongōku 金剛吼 (wheel), Ryūōku 龍王吼 (lamp), Muijūrikiku 無畏十力吼 (vajra), Raidenku 雷電吼 (net), and Muryōrikiku 無量力吼 (sword). In Amoghavajra's new translation shin'yaku 新訳; they appear as Kongōshu 金剛手(Sk: Vajrapani; east, vajra), Kongōhō 金剛宝 (Sk: Vajraratna; south, jewel), Kongōri 金剛利 (Sk: Vajratiksna; west, sword), Kongōyakusha 金剛薬叉 (Sk: Vajrayaksa; north, bell), and Kongōharamitta 金剛波羅蜜多 (Sk: Vajraparamita; centre, wheel). The Ninnōgyō 仁王経 (generally considered to be an apocryphal work composed in China) was revered in Japan from the Nara period onward as one of the three state-protecting sutras Gokoku sanbukyō 護国三部経, and the cult of the godairiki bosatsu spread with the institutionalization of the ninnō-e 仁王会, a practice based on the Ninnōgyō. This ritual which aimed to protect the country was first held in the tenth year of the reign of Empress Saimei 斉明 (660). The ninnō-e was celebrated at the foot of Mt. Kōya 高野 in Jison'in 慈尊院 (826) Wakayama Prefecture, and then was revived, after a break (1108) in the Kondō 金堂, with the main image *honzon 本尊, for the ceremony being stored in Kitamuroin 北室院. A variation of the ninnō-e performed annually at Daigoji 醍醐寺 in Kyoto, is in fact called godairiki-san 五大力さん although it is strongly tinged with elements of the cult of the *Godai Myōō 五大明王. The godairiki bosatsu are depicted in wrathful form, with Kongō seated on a lotus and the other four standing with one leg raised. All extant images date from the Heian period or later, and are related to the celebration of the ninnō-e. Early examples of the godairiki include the iconographic drawing of the *Ninnōgyō mandara 仁王経曼荼羅 in the Spencer Collection in the New York Public Library and the set of five standing images in Akishinodera 秋篠寺, Nara. A set of early line drawings *hakubyō 白描 is preserved at Fugen'in 普賢院 in Mt. Kōya. Polychrome depictions include a single-scroll representation kept at Kitamuroin and a set originally of five hanging scrolls thought to date from the late Heian period and now kept at Yūshi Hachimankō jūhakkain 有志八幡講十八箇院, both in Mt. Kōya. Two scrolls of the latter set were lost in a fire in 1888, and the remaining three (Kongōku, Ryūoku, and Muijūrikiku) have been designated national treasures.