tengai 天蓋

1　Also sangai 傘蓋, hōgai 宝蓋, kagai 華蓋, kengai 懸蓋. Sk: chatra. A canopy hung from the ceiling above a Buddhist statue. Said to be derived from parasols used by Indian nobility. In Japan, canopies were made of metal or wood in square, hexagonal, octagonal or circular shapes. Often ornamental objects such as the jeweled net *ramō 羅網 were hung from the canopy. Until the Fujiwara period, many tengai were decorated with an arabesque flower pattern *hōsōge 宝相華 in openwork *sukashibori 透彫 or relief carving *ukibori 浮彫. From the 12th century, cloud patterns were common, and in the transitional period, the two designs were sometimes combined in the same work. Outstanding examples of tengai include the Asuka period painted wooden canopy in Hōryūji *Kondō 法隆寺金堂, Nara; the early Heian period wooden canopy over the *Fudō Myōō 不動明王 in Tōji 東寺, Kyoto, shaped like a lotus flower, with eight heavenly beings *hiten 飛天 painted in the centre; and the 11th-century canopy over the Amida Nyorai-zō 阿弥陀如来像 in Byōdōin *Hōōdō 平等院鳳凰堂 (1053), Kyoto, which consists of a round, openwork, hōsōge decorative panel inside a box-shaped outer structure (inlaid lacquer).

2　A baldachin. A canopy made of painted or gilded wood and hung above Buddhist altars and/or over Buddhist statues. Those placed over abbots' seats are called raiban 礼盤 or jintengai 人天蓋. Originally the canopies were made of silk and were intended to resemble a long-handled Indian umbrella, kinugasa 絹笠. The canopies were square, circular, six or eight sided. Trinkets *yōraku 瓔珞 and/or streams were hung along the bottom edges.