Lit. "eight patriarchs of the Shingon sect." The founders of Esoteric Buddism mikkyō 密教. These mythical and real Indian, Chinese, and Japanese figures include: *Dainichi 大日 (Sk: Mahavairocana); Kongōsatta 金剛薩 (Sk: Vajrasattva); Ryūmyō 竜猛 (Sk: Nagarjuna); Ryūchi 竜智 (Sk: Nagabodhi); Kongōchi 金剛智 (Sk: Vajrabodhi, 671-741); Fukūkongō 不空金剛 (Sk: Amoghavajra, 705-74); Keika 恵果 (Ch: Huiguo, 746-805); and, *Kūkai 空海 (774-835). Sometimes the first two patriarchs, both deities, are replaced by the monks Zenmui 善無畏 (Sk: Subhakarasimha, 637-735) and Ichigyō 一行 (Ch: Xixing, 683-727).
The oldest extant representation of the eight patriarchs is the set of wall paintings inside the pagoda at Daigoji 醍醐寺, Kyoto, completed in 951. Zenmui and Ichigyō, together with Fukūkongō, Kongōchi, and Keika, comprise another group, Shingon goso 真言五祖 (the five patriarchs of the Shingon sect). Upon his return from China, Kūkai installed at Kyōōgokokuji 教王護国寺 (also known as Tōji 東寺), Kyoto, paintings of these five patriarchs (805) by the Tang dynasty painter Li Zhen (Jp: Ri Shin 李真, late 8th-early 9th century). Later, Kongōsatta and Ryūmyō were added to form the Shingon shichiso 真言七祖 (the seven patriarchs of the Shingon sect).
Another group of eight Shingon Patriarchs is the purely Japanese combination of the patriarchs Saichō 最澄 (766-822), Kūkai, Jōkyō 常暁 (d.866), Engyō 円行 (799-852), Ennin 円仁 (794-864), Eun 慧運 (798-869), Enchin 円珍 (814-91), and Shūei 宗叡 (809-84).