Lit. "Buddha at birth." A sculptural representation of the historical Buddha *Shaka 釈迦 immediately after his birth. According to legend, his mother Mahamaya gave birth to him from her right side. The infant then took 7 steps and, pointing to the heavens with his right hand and to the earth with his left hand, proclaimed: "Tenjō tenga yuiga dokuson 天上天下唯我独尊 (I alone am the honored one in the heavens and on earth)." The tanjōbutsu show the infant Shaka in this pose, usually wearing a loincloth. Shaka's birth is counted among 8 major events in his life (see *Shaka hassō 釈迦八相), but statuary representations of this type are rare outside of Korea and Japan. Elsewhere the infant Shaka is generally depicted in reliefs and murals with both arms hanging at his side or with the right hand raised in the mudra bestowing fearlessness *semui-in 施無畏印.
In Japan, images in bronze (and occasionally in wood) between 5-20 cm in height are very common because they have become a requisite for the *kanbutsu-e 潅仏会, or rite for sprinkling (an image of) the Buddha. The rite is performed annually on April 8th in celebration of Shaka's birthday, when a tanjōbutsu statuette is placed in a shallow bowl kanbutsuban 潅仏盤 inside a small shrine decorated with flowers hanamidō 花御堂, and is sprinkled by worshippers, usually with sweet hydrangea tea amacha 甘茶 in imitation of the 2 dragon-kings who are said to have poured perfumed water on Shaka when he was born. This rite, which may be traced back to the 7th century, is today more commonly known as hanamatsuri 花祭り (flower festival). Tanjōbutsu date from as early as the Asuka period, but the most renowned is at Tōdaiji 東大寺 (Nara; National Treasure). Other representative examples include those at Goshinji 悟真寺 (Hakuhō period), Nara; Zensuiji 善水寺 (Nara period), Shiga Prefecture; and Daihōonji 大報恩寺 (Kamakura period), Kyoto.