Inori no Mori祈りの杜working title

Group of figures

Nijūgo Bosatsu (the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas)

二十五菩薩にじゅうごぼさつ

A grouping of twenty-five figures described as a company of bodhisattvas who come from the Pure Land of Gokuraku together with Amida Nyorai to welcome a person at the time of death.

This introduction is based on materials from Shōhōin (Tobi Fudō). It is summarized within the scope of the beliefs and traditions those materials convey, and does not present explanations or customs common to all schools, shrines, and temples.

English pages are the site’s own translations of its Japanese pages. The sources cited are in Japanese. 日本語で読む

The names and roles of the Nijūgo Bosatsu

A grouping of twenty-five figures described as a company of bodhisattvas who come from the Pure Land of Gokuraku together with Amida Nyorai to welcome a person at the time of death. The background is introduced: Pure Land faith flourished from the middle of the Heian period.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing their forms and traditions

Twenty-five figures, including Kanzeon Bosatsu, Yakuō Bosatsu, Daiseishi Bosatsu, Yakujō Bosatsu and Fugen Bosatsu, are listed with numbers. It is explained that the objects shown on each page are those illustrated in the Butsuzō Zui, and that they differ slightly from those given in the Nijūgo Bosatsu Wasan.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Protecting those who wish to be reborn in Gokuraku

The Nijūgo Bosatsu are bodhisattvas who protect people who wish to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. A Jōdo Shū dictionary explains the protection of practitioners taught in the Jū Ōjō Amidabutsu Kokukyō as the basis of this faith. Rather than assigning separate benefits such as money or study to each one, they can first be understood through their saving work as a group.

Source: 浄土宗

Raigō paintings and the bodhisattvas of nerikuyō

As Pure Land faith spread, the Nijūgo Bosatsu came to be depicted in raigō paintings, in which they come with Amida Nyorai to welcome the dying, and also in nerikuyō processions. This is explained as a development from the understanding that bodhisattvas who protect practitioners in daily life would also protect them at the time of death. Objects such as musical instruments and lotus pedestals differ from source to source, and the individual forms shown here are based mainly on Shōhōin's materials introducing the Butsuzō Zui.

Source: 浄土宗・飛不動尊 正宝院

Related kami and buddhas

Sources (in Japanese)