mishōtai 御正体

A term whose definition falls under three headings. The first refers to representations of specific Shinto deities, often in the form of their Buddhist counterparts *honjibutsu 本地仏, which are the Buddhist identities of the Shinto deities themselves. Mishōtai may refer to a specific icon, as at Kasuga Taisha 春日大社, where the image of the deer with sakaki 榊 (Japanese cleyera) presented in many shika mandara 鹿曼荼羅 (see *Kasuga mandara 春日曼荼羅 ) and in sculptures is also identified as the Kasuga mishōtai.