670 clemente beghiMaterial Culture: Statuary and Ritual ParaphernaliaRituals did not consist only of dhāraṇī recitation; many required
lengthy preparations; offerings, including some extremely valuable
items such as rare incense; a whole range of paraphernalia; and, of
course, icons representing the deities. A great amount of statuary as
well as ritual implements is still extant.
The most frequently encountered images are those representing
Avalokiteśvara, as his cult was very popular at the time due to faith in
his ability to protect and heal (Table 2). Of these, images of the Eleven-
headed Avalokiteśvaras are the most common, with the earliest exam-
ples dating back as far as the mid-seventh century, for example, the
small bronze statue now kept at the Tōkyō National Museum, which
is thought to have been brought back from China in 665 by Jōe
(643–714); and the fresco that adorned the Golden Hall (kondō )
of Hōryūji, which was unfortunately lost during a fire in modern times
(Naitō 2005, 132).^4
The second most popular icon seems to have been the Thousand-
armed Avalokiteśvara, such as the one in Nigatsudō, used in 751 in
the first recorded repentance ritual to this deity. There are also repre-
sentations of the deity that follow the iconography of the Garbhadhātu
mandala, with forty-two main arms and many smaller ones, as in
the statue at Fujiidera. Among other images related to the
various transformations of Avalokiteśvara is the Unerring Noose
Avalokiteśvara, such as the 748 statue at Sangatsudō , thought
to have been a portrait sculpture of Empress Kōmyō; the Treasure
Wheel Avalokiteśvara (Cintāmaṇicakra-avalokiteśvara, Nyoirin Kan-
non ), which followed the older, two-armed iconography;
and last, the Horse-headed Avalokiteśvara (Hayagrīva, Batō Kannon
), such as the image at Daianji (Naitō 2005, 134). With his
angry faces and ghastly adornments of snakes and bones, this is one of
the few early examples of the wrathful (funnu ) deities that are to
become so popular after Kūkai.
While there are many references to paintings, embroideries, and
statues, only a few are extant, primarily sculptures.^5 Among the lost
images is a Tathāgata Aksobya (Ashuku Nyorai ̣ ) that was
(^4) For pictures of all the images and implements cited, see Nara kokuritsu hakubut-
sukan, ed., 2005.
(^5) For an extensive list of the various statues and their original and present locations,
see Hamada 1986, 488–91.