National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

　Tobatsu Bishamonten is different from a common Bishamonten. It is said to have emerged in the kingdom Tobatsu in the western region of China and enshrined at a gate to protect a castle. The characteristic features of the statue is that it wears a jeweled crown (hokan) with the thinly carving (usu niku bori) design of a phoenix in the center and two standing people with jeweled sticks (hobo) on both sides, a special kind of a chain mail (kinsako) like an overcoat, shrimp-shaped gauntlets (ebi gote) on both hands and greaves (sune ate) like a shrimp on the shanks. It also stands on female Jiten (Jiten nyo).
　In the early Heian period, the statue that is said to have come down from Tang China and have been enshrined at the southern gate of Suzaku Boulevard of Heian-kyo, Rajyo-mon gate, is now enshrined at Toji Temple in Kyoto Prefecture. In the late Heian period, the statue held by Toji Temple started to be used as a motif to imitate the original. It should be noted that that although imitated statues handed down to the Seiryoji Temple and the Kuramadera Temple in Kyoto Prefecture were created to include unique interpretations of the original, this statue stuck to the original as precisely as possible. This statue stands without any movement, while the statue of Toji Temple has slight movement in the waist and legs. However, unlike the statue of Toji Temple, this statue has a calm expression as black stones are not used for the eyes. It was created using joined block construction (yosegi dukuri) from Japanese cypress hinoki with a finishing touch of pigments.