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

This mandala is the principal image of worship in the Ritual of the Great Cranial Protuberance, which is performed to pray for love and respect, increase benefits, and to avert disaster. Historical records indicate the Mandala of the Great Cranial Protuberance started to be used in rituals in the latter half of the 11th century during the mid-Heian period (794–1185).

This painting is in a style called the “Chinese version,” but it is not clear which esoteric ritual protocol this version is derived from. Nevertheless, compendiums of Buddhist iconographies from the late Heian period, called the Zuzōshō and Bessonzakki contain this same iconography. It was probably brought from China with what were then the latest iconographies of the Song dynasty (960–1279).

The One-Syllable Golden Wheel (Buddha Dainichi of the Golden Wheel; J. Dainichi Kinrin) sits in lotus position atop Mount Sumeru in front of a sun wheel with the seven treasures placed around the deity. Apart from the fact that it does not contain a lion pedestal, this depiction is very similar to the standard iconography of the One-Syllable Golden Wheel. Inside the moon wheel in the upper part of the painting, the Buddha Śākyamuni of the Golden Wheel is depicted with his hands in the meditation mudra and a golden wheel placed on top of them. On the sides of Dainichi of the Golden Wheel atop Mount Sumeru, stylized flowers (karahana), which could also be taken as peonies, and a bamboo grove are depicted. In the foreground, two Dragon Kings and dragon deities are rising out of sea. In esoteric Buddhism, natural scenery was incorporated into mandalas, and apart from the image of Śākyamuni in the moon wheel, the renderings and layout of this mandala are innovative and unconventional.

The main deities’ bodies are painted ochre and outlined in red. Their robes are decorated in ornate patterns of cut gold leaf, including i nterlaced circles, rising clouds, and checks. Gold leaf was pressed on the metal adornments, and the pigments were lightened with white to create an elegant appearance. In particular, the use of cut gold leaf on the Buddha Dainichi of the Golden Wheel and cut silver leaf—rare in Buddhist paintings—on the Buddha Śākyamuni of the Golden Wheel are of special note.