Wooden Statues of the Five Great Myoo (in the Lecture Hall)

The Wrathful Guardians of Toji's Three-Dimensional Mandala

The Wooden Statues of the Five Great Myoo (in the Lecture Hall) (木造五大明王像（講堂安置）) is five Heian-period statues of the Great Myoo enshrined in the lecture hall of Kyoogokokuji (Toji) in Kujo-cho, Minami Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1952 were designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records five figures owned by Kyoogokokuji, first designated under the old system in 1901.

According to Toji, they are the five figures to the left of Dainichi Nyorai in the three-dimensional mandala of twenty-one figures on the lecture hall altar.

The Mandala

Toji explains that the lecture hall was begun in 823 and completed in 839, and that Kukai placed twenty-one Buddhist figures centred on Dainichi Nyorai on its altar, making the mandala three-dimensional.

The Five Great Myoo centre on Fudo Myoo, the first introduced to Japan, wrathful, holding a sword in the right hand and a rope in the left before a blaze of flames, surrounded by four other Myoo with many arms, legs and eyes. Toji describes them as manifestations of Dainichi.

What to Look For

Toji calls the lecture hall Fudo the oldest in Japan. Whereas the sword of the guardian Jikokuten is single-edged and turned on the opponent, the Myoo's sword is double-edged, facing both outward and inward, showing a figure who saves others at the risk of his own life.

Within the mandala that makes Kukai's esoteric teaching visible, the Five Great Myoo embody the severity of salvation.

Visiting the Wooden Statues of the Five Great Myoo (in the Lecture Hall)

Toji says the lecture hall is open all year, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last entry 4:30 p.m.).

According to Toji, the twenty-one figures of the three-dimensional mandala stand together in the lecture hall.