Kannon Bodhisattva in Tokyo
Posted: January 27, 2011 | Author: Doug 陀愚 | Filed under: Buddhism, Japan, Religion, Travel | 4 Comments »This is a photo I took in Japan recently at a temple called Daienji in the Meguro Ward of Tokyo, thanks to reader “Johnl” for the tour:
This is a statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon, who is one of the most inspirational figures and most beloved in Buddhism. Kannon is often portrayed as a female in Asian Buddhism, or at least a male with more gentle features, as shown here. Also, Kannon is often portrayed with a crown that has an image of Amitabha Buddha, as shown here, because Kannon is one of two attendant Bodhisattvas to Amitabha Buddha in the Pure Land.1 Kannon embodies compassion, while the other attendant Bodhisattva, Seishi, embodies wisdom and practice.
Nothing special here, I just really liked the artwork at this particular temple and wanted to share. 
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu
1 See the Contemplation Sutra for details. It’s pretty vivid, but the imagery of the Pure Land includes Kannon Bodhisattva among other things.
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
Doug, are you sure that this isn’t Seishi? Isn’t he normally shown posing like this holding a lotus flower stalk? I could be wrong, but, that was my first impression of the photo.
P.S. Great blog by the way!
Hi Tiger, great to hear from you again.
I’m pretty certain it’s Kannon. I vaguely remember reading the plaque saying as such (John? Do you remember?). Seishi is rarely, rarely portrayed separately since he/she is for historical reasons not a prominent Bodhisattva like Kannon. Kannon is often portrayed independently as shown here.
Also the iconography of Kannon is quite varied too, adding to the complexity.
But to be honest I am not 100% sure. I did find some good information by the folks at On Mark Productions about Seishi here:
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/seishi.shtml
Umm…I don’t remember seeing a plaque, I wasn’t really looking for one. I just assumed it was Kannon. This type of modern statue is very common. The Amida in the headdress might clinch it. I googled some images of Seishi Bosatsu and I didn’t see anything similar. Yes, Seishi often has a lotus, but usually a metallic-looking crown. (( I hadn’t even heard of Seishi (still don’t know much) until I went to Koyasan. ))
Yeah, maybe I imagined the plaque. I’ve seen too many Kannon statues in Japan maybe.
I can’t recall. The crown with Amitabha Buddha though really seems like a symbol of Kannon though, but again I am not 100% sure. :p