Battling Buddhist Images is an exhibition held at the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum in Tokyo from January 2 to March 22, 2026. The show examines why certain Buddhist images appear aggressive, showing figures brandishing weapons, clad in armour, and exuding martial energy. These images represent a category of deities who, though not fully enlightened, serve as fierce protectors of Buddhism. Most of the works in the show come from the museum’s own collection. A central strength of the exhibition is its cross-cultural perspective: by juxtaposing Japanese and Chinese representations of armed figures, it shows how their iconography evolved as Buddhism spread from India through Central Asia to China and Japan. Rather than tracing this development in a chronological manner, the exhibition is organized into three thematic sections: one examining diverse forms of battle figures, another exploring the origins of armour in their representations, and a third dedicated to the renowned wooden statues of the Divine Generals from the museum’s permanent holdings.
Although battling figures often appear as part of the entourage of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, the exhibition highlights their role not merely as subordinates, but as protectors of Buddhist teachings and agents of salvation for devotees. This theme is introduced in the first section, which demonstrates their capacity to rescue worshippers. The section opens with a Japanese painting of Bishamonten, depicted against a flaming halo while trampling two demons. Bishamonten is one of the Four Guardian Kings, each associated with a cardinal direction. Among them, the Guardian of the North, Tamonten, became independent from the group; when worshipped individually, he is known as Bishamonten. This painting aptly inaugurates the exhibition, as Bishamonten’s elevation to an independent deity reflects his growing importance in Japanese Buddhism. He was no longer seen solely as a cardinal guardian but also as a figure actively aiding devotees in their pursuit of salvation. The painting also shows Bishamonten’s connection to the Lotus Sutra: while he often holds a miniature pagoda symbolizing relics, here the pagoda is open, enshrining two Buddhas seated side by side, a reference to a miraculous scene in the sutra. Bishamonten’s association with this Buddhist scripture is also conveyed by an eleventh-or-twelfth-century Chinese illustrated Lotus Sutra, in which he appears before a monk as his protector.
In addition to Bishamonten, the first section features other battling figures situated in various religious contexts. A striking example is a pair of paintings of Aizen Myōō and Fudō Myōō, rendered on the interior doors of a miniature shrine. Dating to the late thirteenth or fourteenth century, the shrine enshrines an Eleven-headed Kannon statue seated against a mandorla, whose reverse side bears the portrait of a nun, possibly the donor. Aizen Myōō, shown with six arms, wields weapons including a bow and arrow, while Fudō Myōō, engulfed in flames, grasps a sword in one hand and a lasso in the other. Both deities appear ferocious, with bulging eyes. Although these figures are central to esoteric Buddhist worship, here they accompany the Eleven-headed Kannon, surrounded by additional paintings inside the tabernacle. These include depictions of the five shrines at Kasuga and their surrounding landscape. Kasuga, the tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara clan, had been considered a paradise on earth and a locus of combined kami and Buddhist worship by the late twelfth century. A parallel example in the exhibition is a mandara painting of the Kumano shrines, also regarded as a paradise and a site of combinatory Kami-Buddhist devotion. In this work, battling figures are shown amid the mountainous terrain of Kumano, underscoring their presence within sacred landscapes.
Another noteworthy battling figure in the first section appears in a fourteenth-century Chinese series of paintings of the Ten Kings. The Ten Kings were believed to judge the souls of the deceased and determine their rebirth within the six realms of existence. While battling figures typically serve as the king’s retinue, one painting depicts the tenth judge, Wudao Zhuanlun Wang (J. Godō Tenrin Ō), as a soldier-like figure clad in a helmet and armor. By including these paintings of the Ten Kings alongside the Kumano mandara and Kasuga Shrine, the exhibition demonstrates the connection between battling figures and the realms of death and the afterlife.
The second section juxtaposes Chinese tomb figures with Buddhist images to explore the origins of armor in Buddhist iconography. The Four Guardian Kings are among the most common battling figures in Buddhism, yet the earliest surviving example from India shows them without armor. Their armored appearance likely developed through contact with Chinese funerary traditions as Buddhism spread from India to China. This section presents seven ceramic tomb figures, vividly glazed in color. Some are imaginative creatures, while others assume human forms. Many bear similarities to the Four Guardian Kings: bulging eyes, gaping mouths, armored torsos, and the act of trampling demons or animals. Several were produced in the celebrated Tang sancai style, a type of pottery covered in tri-colored glaze (green, white, and yellow) popular during the Tang dynasty (618–907). The exhibition facilitates an understanding of the relationship between these tomb figures and Buddhist images by displaying a photograph of a Chinese tomb, in which similar figures appear flanking the entrance, serving as guardians of the deceased. This protective function parallels that of Buddhist battling deities, who defend both the teachings of Buddhism and its devotees.
The display of tomb figures is followed by battling images from both Japan and China, dating from the sixth to the nineteenth century. Although this portion of the section features only a small number of works, it provides viewers with the opportunity to compare battling images across cultural contexts, observe their diverse forms, and trace their prototypes and transformations over time.
The exhibition concludes with a third section devoted to seven of the Twelve Divine Generals statues that once accompanied Yakushi, the Medicine Buddha, at Jōruriji, a temple in present-day Kyoto Prefecture. The set of Twelve Divine Generals left the temple in the late nineteenth century; today, seven are housed at the Seikadō Art Museum, while the remaining five belong to the Tokyo National Museum. These sculptures are celebrated as exemplars of Kamakura realism, evidenced by their naturalistic modeling of bodies, crystal inlays that vividly render the eyes, and dynamic poses that convey movement and force.
Battling Buddhist Images effectively explores the iconographic development of battling figures and their diverse forms through a wide range of works across East Asia. By foregrounding these figures—often relegated to the role of retinues and thus easily overlooked—the exhibition reveals their connections to multiple dimensions of Buddhist culture. At times, however, the relationship between certain works and the section themes remains ambiguous, leaving viewers to wonder what specific narratives they were intended to illustrate. Overall, the exhibition provides a valuable perspective on battling images, enabling audiences to trace their evolving iconography and shifting religious roles across historical and regional contexts.
Further information on the exhibition, including a list of the works on display, can be found here.
Yen-Yi Chan
Assistant Professor of Japanese Art History at Sophia University
Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow 2019-2020