Matara-jin
Matara-jin (摩多羅神) is a god present in the esoteric Tendai tradition of Japanese Buddhism, associated in particular with the Mt. Hiei temple complex.
Matara-jin is a shukujin[1], a type of syncretic god of destiny and stars, but also a god of outcast communities, for example traveling performers. Such groups were also associated with holidays taking place in the "backdoor" (後戸) area of Buddhist temples[2], a space behind the honzon, where Matara-jin was commonly enshrined as a protector deity. Another prominent role of this deity was that of ekijin, an epidemic god, invoked to ward off disease.
Additionally, Matara-jin with time acquired the status of a god of noh, which lead to him being conflated with Hata no Kawakatsu. Kawakatsu, head of the immigrant Hata clan, is a culture hero commonly portrayed as a trusted associate of prince Shotoku, as well as a patron of sericulture and as an unspecified god masquerading, or reincarnated, as a human. Authors such as Konparu Zenchiku associated both Matara-jin and Hata no Kawakatsu with the okinamen mask, which represnts a specific stock character – an auspicious old man[3].
Modern scholars theorise that the emergence of Matara-jin was the result of conflation of Taizan Fukun, the god of Mount Tai, and Mahakala in esoteric Buddhist contexts[4].
References[edit]
- ↑ Bernard Faure, The Cultic World of the Blind Monks: Benzaiten, Jūzenji, and Shukujin, Journal of Religion in Japan 2 (2013), p. 171
- ↑ Bernard Faure, The Cultic World of the Blind Monks: Benzaiten, Jūzenji, and Shukujin, Journal of Religion in Japan 2 (2013), p. 183
- ↑ Sujung Kim, Transcending Locality, Creating Identity: Shinra Myōjin, a Korean Deity in Japan, New York 2014, p. 205-208
- ↑ William M. Bodiford, Matara: A Dream King Between Insight and Imagination, Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 16, 2006. Rethinking Medieval Shintō – Repenser le shintō médiéval, p. 240
Matara-jin[edit]
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