Small Seated Image of Rãgavidyiarãja (Japanese: Aizen Myōō)

With his bright red skin, white fangs, multiple arms, flaming hair, and lion’s head crown, Aizen Myōō embodies the Cosmic Buddha’s wrath against evil spirits. Its placement inside the sculpture of Prince Shōtoku is an important indicator of the cultic identity of the people who commissioned and venerated it. The reformist monk Eison (1201–1290) is credited with warding off two attempted invasions of Japan by the Mongols with nation-saving rituals to Aizen. Eison championed a movement known as Shingon-Ritsu, which called for a return to the proper observation of monastic rules for living, including the establishment of nunneries. His personal icon, a modestly sized sculpture of Aizen, remains at his temple of Saidaiji, in Nara, to this day.