2-748-161 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Wisdom King of Great Awe-inspiring Power (Daiitoku myoo), mid-1800s. In Esoteric Buddhism, there is one Buddha at the center of the universe, and four additional Buddhas, each of whom occupies one of the four cardinal directions. These Buddhas also manifest themselves in fierce forms called Kings of Brightness (myoo), or Wisdom Kings. Daiitoku is an avatar of the Buddha Amida and manages the west. This dynamic representation of the deity, with his bull lunging through rough waves and his arms in position to wield his weapons, differs from many earlier Japanese paintings of the deity, which tend to portray him in a more sedentary fashion, standing on a bull or seated on a rock and with his arms in more stable poses.