. the mandala as metropolis 735
Figure 10. Wang cheng emperor’s city (Steinhardt 1990, 34).made his imperial progress.^11 Just as the emperor circumambulated this
symbolic space and established himself at the center, so too did Gengō
(914–995) explain the circular order of the Diamond World’s
nine wards. His tenth-century commentary, the Kongōkai kuemikki
, proposes that one contemplate the mandala in a coun-
terclockwise spiral to end up at Dainichi’s perfected body assembly in
the center (Sharf 2001, 167, 179, 242 n. 22, 244 n. 35).^12
(^11) For more on this structure, see Hwang 1996; Wu 1995, 177–87; Forte 1988; Mas-
pero 1951. 12
Takai 1953, 276–79; Hatta 1981, 278–80; and Yamasaki 1988, 145–47 also note
the alternative oral tradition of setting out from the center and circumambulating
down and around the mandala in a clockwise spiral. As mentioned above (note 7),