Fudo Myoo with Two Attendants, Color on Silk (Ao Fudo)

The Blue Fudo of Shorenin

The Fudo Myoo with Two Attendants, Color on Silk (Ao Fudo) (絹本著色不動明王二童子像) is a Heian-period Buddhist painting owned by Shorenin Monzeki in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1952 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a single hanging scroll owned by Shorenin.

Shorenin calls it the Ao Fudo, the Blue Fudo, a hidden image counted among the three great Fudo images of Japan.

Image and Worship

The Agency records it as a Heian work painted in colour on silk.

Shorenin explains that among the five-coloured Fudo images the blue is the highest, making it "the Fudo of Fudo".

What to Look For

Shorenin notes that it has been kept as a hidden image since the Heian period. In 2014, after three years of restoration, it was shown for the first time at the Shogunzuka Seiryuden, a detached precinct of the temple.

The temple holds a monthly fire ritual on the day of the full moon at the Seiryuden, with the Blue Fudo as its principal image.

Visiting the Fudo Myoo with Two Attendants, Color on Silk (Ao Fudo)

Shorenin is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last entry 4:30 p.m.); admission is 600 yen for adults, 400 yen for secondary students and 200 yen for primary pupils. The Blue Fudo is a hidden image and not always shown.

It is 3 minutes on foot from the Jingu-michi city bus stop or 5 minutes from Higashiyama Station on the Tozai subway line. Enquiries: Shorenin, 075-561-2345.