Part 2 of Buddhist Guardian series.
His name is Bidara (毘陀羅), one of the four Guardians at Yashamon Gate (夜叉門) of Taiyuin (大猷院) at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi Prefecture. Taiyuin is a Buddhist temple at which the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa (徳川家光) is worshipped.
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| Hi my name is Umarokya! Click on me to enlarge. |
He is as scary as Umarokya (烏摩勒伽), who appeared in the previous entry. Bidara has red skin, curly brown hair, sharp gold fangs, shining gold stick in his right hand, and his left hand is ready to punch your face. Also note that he has catfish heads for knee pads. He wears slippers with the same color as his knee pads... Is it made of catfish skin??? That I am not sure... One of his roles is to guard the "South", whereas Umarokya is guarding the "North"
This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.
sounded the likes of bali custom. they have similar guardian.
ReplyDeletethis is quite interesting. catfish heads for knee pads--i wonder why catfish.:p
ReplyDeleteBack when I was attending Japanese class our teacher mentioned that tengu and other angry gods are a representation of foreigners who visited Japan :D Russians having reddish cheeks, sharp nose and are tall are mostly the inspiration of tengus :D Hontou ni?
ReplyDeletesuch elaborate sculpture this one has!
Hi Yoshi, I really appreciate this posting. I don't associate Buddhism with anger or warriors. Their fierceness is almost comical. And in spite of that, they do have their beauty. this has been most enlightening. thanks for sharing! and have a beautiful day Yoshi.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post here, I learned a bit to-day thank-you
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that's real gold! A very valuable and historic Ruby!
ReplyDeleteThe facial expressions of catfish are so funny that they add comical atmosphere to the deity even though he has the scary face.
ReplyDelete日光 is really great!!
Thank you!!
Thanks my friend.....Today I had a really great and cheerful day, because I met my friends and classmates, but like I said "tomorrow all will be only monotony".....but I will start to like it more cos this is my last year of HS (better said my last 5 months).....So THANKS once again for all your effort to write these beautiful and informative posts....
ReplyDeleteAll the best...Peace:)
Flory
Now That's a scary guy. Great series I'm enjoying it. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteTis guardian is a bold red, an attention getting color that we all would be wise to pay attention. He is is big and a bit threatening. Just the character to watch over someone important...
ReplyDeleteHe looks scary enough to make me want to behave. :)
ReplyDeleteSo interesting, I haven't heard of this before! Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeletei guess, everybody is behaving when they passed by him.
ReplyDeleteThe four guardian are very interesting figure, the building that they guard must be also beautiful. Very good photo!
ReplyDeleteWow...that is amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteCome visit me today...I have special Ruby Red Earrings to show off for Tuesday.
Here's the direct link:
My Ruby Tuesday
http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/2011/01/for-want-of-title-earrings-appear.html
Interesting. =)
ReplyDelete-iam3739.com