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

　　Tobatsu Bishamonten is different from a common Bishamonten (Skt. Vaiśravaṇa). It is said to have emerged in Tobatsu Kingdom 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 with the thinly carving design of a phoenix in the center and two standing people with jeweled sticks on both sides, a special kind of a chain mail (kinsakō) like an overcoat, shrimp-shaped gauntlets (ebi gote) on both hands and greaves like a shrimp on the shanks. It also stands on female Jiten (Jiten nyo).
　　In the early Heian period (794–1185), the statue that is said to have come down from Tang of China and have been enshrined at the southern gate of Suzaku Boulevard of Heian-kyō, Rajō-mon Gate, is now enshrined at Tōji Temple in Kyōto. In the late Heian period, the statue held by Tōji started to be used as a motif to imitate the original. It should be noted that that although imitated statues handed down to the Seiryōji Temple and the Kuramadera Temple in Kyōto 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 Tōji has slight movement in the waist and legs. However, unlike the statue of Tōji, this statue has a calm expression as black stones are not used for the eyes. It was created using joined block construction from Japanese cypress with a finishing touch of pigments