Ichiji kinrin 一字金輪

Keywords
Art History
Iconography

Lit. One-Syllable Golden Wheel. Also read Ichiji konrin and also known as Kinrin Butchō 金輪仏頂 (Golden-Wheel Buddha-Crown), Kidoku Butchō 奇特仏頂 (Marvelous Buddha-Crown), or Ichiji chōrin'ō 一字頂輪王 (One-Syllable Crown Wheel-King; Sk: Ekasarosnisa cakravartin). An Esoteric Buddhist deity *Butchō 仏頂, personifying the single syllable bhrum (Jp: boron 勃ろん), said to encapsulate the virtues of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩, and regarded as supreme among the Butchō, where the epithet "Golden Wheel," kinrin 金輪, referring to the most precious of the four wheels constituting one of the seven treasures regarded as signs of a wheel-king rin'ō 輪王 (Sk: cakravartin) or universal ruler. In Sino-Japanese Esoteric traditions two forms of Ichiji kinrin are distinguished. The first is Dainichi Kinrin 大日金輪 who is similar in appearance to *Dainichi 大日 as he appears in the Diamond World mandala *Kongōkai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅, (with his hands displaying the knowledge-fist mudra *chiken-in 智拳印 and seated within a solar disc). The second is Shaka Kinrin 釈迦金輪, represented by Sakyamuni *Shaka 釈迦 with a golden wheel resting in the palms of his hands which are placed on his lap in the *hokkai jōin 法界定印. The former appears, for example, in a mandala specifically dedicated to him, called *Ichiji kinrin mandara 一字金輪曼荼羅, while the latter appears in the Big Dipper mandala *hokuto mandara 北斗曼荼羅. A wooden image of Dainichi Kinrin is preserved at Chūsonji 中尊寺 in Iwate Prefecture, and two polychrome depictions from the early Kamakura period kept at Daigoji 醍醐寺 in Kyoto are also well-known.