Inori no Mori祈りの杜working title

Group of figures

Nijūhachi Bushū

二十八部衆にじゅうはちぶしゅう

A grouping of twenty-eight deities who protect people who have faith in Senju Kannon.

This introduction is based on materials published by shrines, temples, and schools, starting with Shōhōin. 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 Nijūhachi Bushū

A grouping of twenty-eight deities who protect people who have faith in Senju Kannon. They are also called the Senju Kannon Nijūhachi Bushū or the Kannon Nijūhachi Bushū, and it is explained that they are arranged with four each in the four directions and above and below, and one each in the east, west, south and north, and that each has five hundred subordinates.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing their forms and traditions

Twenty-eight figures, including Baso Sennin, Naraen Kengo, Daiben Kudokuten and Mitsushaku Kongō, are listed with numbers, and their names are said to differ somewhat from sutra to sutra. It is noted that the Senju Kannon Zō Shidai Hō Giki gives the features of their forms, the objects they hold and their mantras.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

A company of guardians supporting the saving work of Senju Kannon

The Nijūhachi Bushū are figures who protect Senju Kannon and the people who have faith in that teaching. The Shitennō (Four Heavenly Kings), deities originating in India and others form a single company as beings who protect Buddhism. At Sanjūsangendō they are described as attendants and companions of Senju Kannon.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・蓮華王院 三十三間堂

Names and forms differ from sutra to sutra

The membership of the Nijūhachi Bushū and the forms of their images differ according to the scriptural account. Because figures with the same names also appear in other groups of guardian figures, here we introduce “their role as the Nijūhachi Bushū” separately from the character handed down for each one individually. We do not treat the statues of Sanjūsangendō and Shōhōin's iconographic materials as the same arrangement or forms.

Source: 蓮華王院 三十三間堂・飛不動尊 正宝院

Protecting those who have faith in Kannon from calamity

Kiyomizu-dera explains the role of the Nijūhachi Bushū as protecting from calamity those who keep Senju Kannon in mind and call that name. Figures connected with many worlds, such as the sea and the land, support Kannon's saving work as one company. This is a faith shared by the Nijūhachi Bushū as a whole; it does not assign the fulfillment of a separate wish to each figure.

Source: 音羽山 清水寺

Related kami and buddhas

Sources (in Japanese)