Guze Kannon 救世観音

A name often used for *Shōkannon 聖観音, it refers to the simple (non-esoteric) form of *Kannon 観音. Guze does not appear in texts as a name of Kannon, but it appears in a phrase in Hokekyō 法華経 (The Lotus Sutra) that describes Kannon's power to save those in this world from suffering. The name is also used specifically for the Asuka period sculptures of a crowned bodhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩 figure holding a jewel. These are hard to distinguish from *Nyoirin Kannon 如意輪観音. The single most famous example is kept in Hōryūji *Yumedono 法隆寺夢殿, Nara, and made in the image of Shōtoku Taishi (574-622; see *Shōtoku taishi-zō 聖徳太子像). The seated images hankazō 半跏像 of Sanzen'in 三千院 in Kyoto and Shitennōji 四天王寺 in Osaka have traditionally been called Guze Kannon, but they differ from the Yumedono image and from the usual form of Shōkannon in appearance.