A Host of Heavenly Beings
The Main Statues
There are around fifty butsuzo, or religious statues, in the kondo main hall. They are arranged hierarchically, with the Healing Buddha (Yakushi Nyorai) occupying the central position on the main dais as the principal object of worship. On either side of the Healing Buddha are a Nikko (Sunlight) Bosatsu and Gakko (Moonlight) Bosatsu from the early Heian period (794–1185). They survived a 1417 fire in which the original Healing Buddha statue was destroyed. Compassionate beings who have put off their own enlightenment to save others, bosatsu always wear elaborate robes, with a sash and a crown of sunlight or moonlight.
The statues at either end of the central dais are the four heavenly kings (Shitennō). Originally gods from India, their role is to guard the faith. They are armed, have a flaming nimbus around their heads, and are trampling devils underfoot. With their contorted shapes, multiple limbs, and mischievous faces, these devils are well worth a close look.
The turquoise washi paper behind the dais dates from the 1997-2004 restoration of the temple. It is decorated with the crests of the imperial household: the chrysanthemum and the paulownia.
Other statues
In the rear shrine (kojin) are five nyorai from the Muromachi period (1336–1573). Made of wood, except for the one in the center which is bronze, they used to be in a pagoda that once stood in the temple grounds. The plump and genial-looking god at the far end of the kojin is Daikokuten, one of seven lucky gods who bring prosperity and good fortune.
Returning to the inner shrine (naijin), there is an enmeifugenbosatsu supported by four large elephants (and multiple smaller elephants below them) in the corner. It has twenty arms on the principle that the more limbs a god has, the more people it can help. The elephants—not an animal native to Japan—are of a slightly eccentric shape, with elongated bodies and oversized, human-looking eyes made of crystal.
In the west corner of the inner shrine is a wooden statue of a seated monk. This is Kukai, the Buddhist monk who brought esoteric Buddhism from China to Japan and established Shingon Buddhism on Mt. Koya in Wakayama.