Bishamondo -
Protector of the North

In Buddhism the Four Guardian Kings are venerated as Protectors of the Faith and Faithful. They are the rulers of the four realms girdling the Axis Mundi, Mt. Sumeru, and guardians of the region below. Thus Bishamon-ten is the protector of the north, the darkest and spiritually most dangerous of all directions. He is a fierce and martial god, fit to give battle to the evil influences whirling down from the black skies of the North.

As protector of the most dangerous region, Bishamon was disengaged from the company of the other Guardian Kings and often venerated on his own, as in Kuramadera, in the mountains north of Kyoto, or in the Narushima Bishamondo in central Iwate prefecture. There was another, very practical reason for worshipping Bishamon here in northern Japan. This was the part of the main island that took the Yamato court longest to subdue. Its mountains and forests were inhabited by the fierce and warlike Emishi, a tribe that is sometimes said to correspond with the Ainu, a people ethnically different from the Japanese, still living in Hokkaido. But it is also possible that the Emishi were not ethnically different from the Japanese and only treated as freakish barbarians in government propaganda.

In the valley of the river Kitakami, the main line of transport to the north, along which the Yamato armies advanced upon the Emishi, several temples contain magnificent Bishamon statues, and the most fantastic of these statues stands in a storehouse in the grounds of the Narushima Bishamondo, a temple on a hill not far from Hanamaki. The taxi from Shin-Hanamaki station takes just about fifteen minutes to bring me there. I come late on a winter afternoon, when the sun hangs low above the brown undulating hills.

The landscape is peaceful and of pastoral beauty. I realize that I cherish this scenery because there are is no detraction. Blissfully absent are such items as glaring pachinko halls, kitschy love hotels, and clamorous billboards. There are only farms and fields, and trees and hills, and all colors are brown and green. It is a landscape to treasure in Japan, because there is preciously little countryside like it left.

The Giant Statue
The store house is opened by an old man who is burning dead leaves in the grounds. He sells me a ticket and remains waiting in the door. I sit down at the feet of Bishamon and look up at his face.

Rarely has this last expression been more true, because seldom have I been sitting at the feet of a larger or more impressive statue. Almost five meters high, it towers above me like a primeval giant, explosive in his strength. This Bishamon statue is power incarnate. Carved from one huge tree, the god clutches a spear in his right hand, while his left hand raises up a miniature pagoda - symbol of the religion that he protects. Under his heavy helmet, the face is all rage and fury. The eyes are bulging out of their sockets, the mouth is violently contorted. The muscles of the arms are like steel cords. The legs, around which a heavy battle dress swings effortlessly, are so massive that they seem like small trees. Every moment the god can step down from his platform, and crush me, insignificant human, with one swoop of his mighty foot.

According to tradition, the statue was dedicated by the greatest of the generals who fought in the north, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758-811). Tamuramaro set out on his expedition against the Emishi in 791, serving subsequently as governor of the large areas he had brought under government control. In 797 he became the first recipient in Japanese history of the title shogun, as 'Barbarian-subduing Generalissimo.' He continued battling the Emishi, now coming as far north as Hanamaki in central Iwate. If the tradition is correct, then our titanic Bishamon must date from around the year 800. Of the temple founded at that time nothing tangible remains. The small halls I saw on my way up to the concrete storeroom housing the statues, were insignificant and relatively modern.

The moon of the north

The Earth Goddess
Only Bishamon remains, the giant statue is the temple, together with a few smaller sculptures. Strangely enough, one of these is part of the Bishamon statue. It is a kneeling woman, holding her hands with the palms turned upwards next to her head. On those hands, the heavy feet of the warrior stand firmly planted. It would have been cruel, were it not that the woman looks just as strong as Bishamon. She seems to carry his weight effortlessly on her strong hands. This type of statue, standing on the hands of the earth goddess, and flanked by two ugly grinning men, wearing helmets, originally came from China and was called Tobatsu Bishamon. In China, he was the god who conquered the unruly tribes in the steppes of the northwest, so in that respect the symbolism holds.

Later, I wait outside in the falling darkness for the taxi. Through the bare branches of the trees in front of me, a round moon comes sailing up. The valley lies peacefully at my feet. The military campaigns of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, that have produced this magnificent Bishamon, lie back in the dark shadows. The wars, the fighting, it all has crystallized into this one great statue, and into the woman lifting him up. Her face shows no pain or anger, easily her strong hands carry the burden, while she looks on with infinite patience. That must be the patience of the hardy people of the north, daily fighting with the elements, wringing their crops from the hard earth.