Jūichimen Kannon 十一面観音

Sk: Ekadasamukha. Eleven-headed Kannon; a form of *Kannon 観音 with eleven miniature faces around the top of his head. One of the Six Kannon *Roku Kannon 六観音 and responsible for the human realm. In painting and sculpture, Jūichimen Kannon may be shown seated or standing, but standing images are more common, especially in sculpture. The deity usually is shown with two arms, although sometimes with four. When two armed, he usually carries a water jar with a lotus in his lefthand which makes a mudra of the absence of fear *semui-in 施無畏印, and with his right hand makes the mudra of the granting of wishes *yogan-in 与願印. The number of faces is usually eleven, though this number may or may not include the main face of the image (thus making the total number eleven or twelve). A form with nine faces, Kumen Kannon 九面観音 also exists (example *danzō 檀像 in Hōryūji 法隆寺, 8th century). The placement of the heads varies. Bodhisattva heads bosatsumen 菩薩面 are situated in either one or two tiers with the head of a Buddha butsumen 仏面 at the top. The faces of the bodhisattvas usually include three benign faces jihimen 慈悲面, three angry faces shinnumen 瞋怒面, three plain faces with fangs kugejō shutsumen 狗牙上出面; also known as gejō shutsumen 牙上出面 and, at the back, a laughing face daishōmen 大笑面; also known as bōaku daishōmen 暴悪大笑面, daibakushōmen 大爆笑面. A small standing image of *Amida 阿弥陀, referred to as a *kebutsu 化仏, may be added in front of his crown as well.
There are different theories to account for the meaning of Jūichimen's multiple heads. On a folk level, there is a story that his head split into many because of his worry over sentient beings. On a higher level, he removes the eleven impediments of sentient beings. The positioning of the heads clearly indicates, that the elevated head of the Buddha rises above the others and iconography evokes the ten stages of the bodhisattva path, with the Buddha as the final result. The encapsulation of these processes into one image shows the presence of all within the bodhisattva, and suggests the fully enlightened bodhisattva as the ideal.
The origin of the iconography is unclear, but in India, multi-headed, multi-armed figures were used by the 7th century to express the complex religious truths and practices of Buddhism. Although few examples are extant in India, a sculpted 7th-8th century image of Jūichimen Kannon with four arms in the cave #41 at Kanheri is well-known. In China, Jūichimen Kannon was commonly portrayed from the early Tang dynasty, and the extant examples are found in paintings in Dunhuang (Jp: Tonkō 敦煌 caves #321 and #334) as well as in bronze and stone sculptures. In Japan, belief in the power of Jūichimen Kannon is recorded from the mid-7th century, and the deity was propitiated especially for aid in convalescence from illnesses. Sculptural and painted images were common in the Nara period and became extremely popular in the Heian period. There are numerous extant examples, many of fine quality, such as a painted image on the walls (burnt down in 1949) of the *Kondō 金堂 in Hōryūji 法隆寺 (rebuilt 693), Nara. Devotion centered upon the practice of group confessions before an image of the deity, the most famous of which was the shuni e 修二会 ceremony of the *Nigatsudō 二月堂 in Tōdaiji 東大寺, Nara (commonly known as omizutori お水取り), which began in 752 and continues to the present day. In Esoteric Buddhism ｍikkyō 密教, Jūichimen Kannon appears in the *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅. In Shinto art *Shintō bijutsu 神道美術, Jūichimen Kannon is a common choice as the *honjibutsu本地仏 (Buddhist counterpart) of female Shinto deities *kami 神 and is one of the two most common choices as honjibutsu of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami 天照大神 (the other being *Dainichi 大日). Jūichimen Kannon may be painted; 1) alone, as in the large Kamakura period painting held by Shidoji 志度寺 in Kagawa Prefecture; 2) in his paradise *Fudaraku 補陀洛 (on a rock in the ocean) often accompanied by Zenzai Dōji 善財童子; or 3) in a setting like that of the large panel painting in Kaijūsenji 海住山寺, Kyoto, in which the deity descends from his paradise across the sea to welcome the deceased raigō 来迎, accompanied by the 25 bodhisattvas *nijūgo bosatsu 二十五菩薩. In addition, the fame of distinct sculptural images of Jūichimen Kannon also lead their being the subject of paintings. One such example is the principal image of Hasedera 長谷寺 in Nara, which as a special feature holds a pewter staff *shakujō 錫杖 in its right hand and a lotus in a vase in its left. This very large image stands on a smooth, flat stone uncovered in a landslide, (instead of the lotus pedestal *rengeza 蓮華座, on which the deity first appeared). The story of the making of the image appears in the illustrated history of the temple *shaji engi-e 社寺縁起絵.