. the mandala as metropolis 739
standards back home in Japan. Excavations of Japanese capitals at
Heijō, Nagaoka, and Heian reveal double-palace layouts that display
even more bilateral symmetry than their Chinese inspirations. When
considered in this light, it is not unlikely that Japanese mikkyō adepts
viewing the Two World Mandalas images in Japan would also readily
resonate with these familiar double-palace models for ideal (i.e., impe-
rial/enlightened) environments.
This twin trope for bilateral organization had deeper spatial and
conceptual associations as well. The twin political institutions of the
Ministers of the Right and Left (Sadaijin and Udaijin ),
as well as the Controllers of the Right and Left (Sadaiben and
Udaiben ), embodied the emperor’s intent and agency in the
Council of State (Daijōkan ) (figure 13).
This fundamentally bicameral order structured political life and
government administration in Japan for centuries, and a similar bipar-
tisan construct seems to be at work in the paired display of the two
balanced mikkyō images in Japan.
Figure 12. Western Han capital at Chang’an, ca. 206 B.C.E.–9 C.E. (Steinhardt
1990, 64).