. landmarks of esoteric art in japan 915
1764; GMZ 19). It is quite possible that Kūkai envisioned Tōji as an
esoteric version of Tōdaiji, to be dedicated to the service of the state
and the emperor through esoteric rituals and imagery. However, the
exoteric Benevolent Kings Service remained the primary ceremony for
the state closely associated with that sūtra, and the esoteric Benevolent
Kings Ritual was later appropriated by the nobility and primarily used
for its efficacy in averting calamity and increasing prosperity.
More successfully, Kūkai established the “Latter Seven Days Impe-
rial Ritual” (Goshichinichi Mishuhō, ) at the imperial
palace to protect the nation and sanctify the emperor as a cakravar-
tin king. This ritual was held annually at the imperial palace during
the second week of the New Year and took place at the same time as
the exoteric gosaie. In 834 Kūkai petitioned Emperor Ninmyō
(810–850, r. 833–850) to add this ritual; it was held at a
temporary facility, the Kageyushichō, at the palace in the first month
of 835. The Shingon’in was built at the palace expressly for the
Latter Seven Days Ritual in 836, a year after Kūkai’s death.
An iconographic drawing in the Kakuzenshō , compiled from
1176 to 1219, diagrams the placement of objects in the Shingon’in for
the ritual (BZ (1912–1922) 51: 241). The main images used are the
Diamond and Womb Mandalas, paintings of the five mantra kings, the
Peacock King, and the twelve deva kings.^9 On the last day of the latter
seven days ritual, the consecration as a cakravartin king is conferred
on the emperor in the Seiryōden Hall of the palace.
The latter seven days ritual closely corresponds to the rituals Kūkai
petitioned in 810 to hold at Jingoji, based on the Benevolent Kings
Sūtra, the Protecting the State Sūtra (Shugo kokkaishu darani kyō,
, T. 997), and the Peacock King Sūtra (Butsumo daiu-
jaku myōō kyō, ; KDCZ 3: 182, T. 982). Likewise,
the Latter Seven Days Ritual serves as an amalgam of the rituals based
on those texts. The Diamond Mandala represents the state-protecting
ritual, the painting of the Peacock King represents the Peacock King
ritual, and the five great mantra kings represent the benevolent kings
ritual. The state-protecting ritual also includes the consecration of the
emperor as a cakravartin king (for a more detailed discussion of the
(^9) According to an annotation on the Kakuzenshō diagram, the painting of the Pea-
cock King was destroyed in the fire of 1177 and never replaced.