A JAPANESE WOOD AND GESSO MODEL OF JIKOKUTEN KAMAKURA OR LATER The fierce-looking Guardian King...

A JAPANESE WOOD AND GESSO MODEL OF JIKOKUTEN

KAMAKURA OR LATER

The fierce-looking Guardian King standing on a couple of disgruntled jaki demons, one hand on his hip and the other raised, wearing an elaborate Chinese-style armour with monster masks-shaped belt hook and sleeves, the demons' and his eyes inlaid in glass and with traces of polychromy, all raised on a rectangular base simulating rocks with a long inscription underneath, 96cm.

Cf. The Freer Gallery, access. nos. F1977.12-14-19-28 for a complete set of the Shitenno in wood and polychome.

Jikokuten is one of the four Guardian Kings of Buddhism, Shitenno, and the Protector of the World associated with the East. These sculptures were placed in Japanese temples to symbolically protect the Buddha in the four cardinal directions. According to the legend, the two demons getting trampled by the god were originally evil but later repented and now carry lanterns to light up the road for the Buddha. They are sometimes referred to as Tentoki and Ryutoki and they represent the power of the four Heavenly Kings to repel and defeat evil.

The design for this statue is probably inspired by the figure of Jikokuten in Kofuku-ji Temple, Nara, dating from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and designated as National Treasure.

The description underneath the carving, 泉北大鳥郡上神谷　鉢峯山, refers to 'Izumi Kita Ōtori-gun Niwadani Hachiminesan'  and to Hōdōji temple in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture.  
The other characters read as 十二神将 (Twelve Heavenly Generals) and 十二躰之内 (One of Twelve). 

Hōdōji temple was built in 670. Its grounds stretch out on the other side of a distinctive gate and include a refectory from the mid-Kamakura period that has been designated an Important Cultural Property as well as a pagoda with a Japanese-style first floor built in the Muromachi period and a Chinese-style second floor.