Buddhist statues and the Shinto religion are often entrenched in Japanese media such as anime and video games. Here we take a look at the iconography of The Dragon Kings and Daibutsu, or giant Buddha statues.
The Dragon Kings and Buddhist Statues
For a little over a year now, I’ve been looking into the ‘Dragon Kings’ written about in historical accounts and legends. Not really per se because I was specifically searching for that information, but rather it just keeps coming up during research for unrelated projects.
(Or rather projects I didn’t yet know could be related.)
Buddhist statues have always fascinated me, especially the elegantly designed ones from China and Japan’s past. I even bought a postcard not too long ago featuring a wonderful statue called ‘Daibutsu’ in Kobe.
It’s been a while since I purchased it, but I believe when looking for the backstory on the statue, I learned that it was demolished after the war (WWII) and used for scraps. Which if it is indeed true, is a shame.
Anyway, I was watching a playthrough of a video game called “Asura’s Wrath” by a YouTuber I enjoy watching and started thinking about all of the deities, and mudra that exist within artwork, paintings, and murals that many people today can’t even decipher.
Tonight, I was just kind of scrolling Pinterest aimlessly looking through a folder I was building on Asian art and culture. I started following images of statues that looked cool (and scary) and wound up at a Japanese website that focuses on different deities and their appearance in human artwork.
I came across the above-mentioned Dragon Kings, and even something related to Bonten – which reminded me of Mikey’s gang from the Tokyo Revengers series. I remember reading somewhere that the manga creator Ken Wakui was a gang member back in his youth, and gangs like the Black Dragon are based on real-life ones from the time.
And of course, there is always a heavenly influence, or nod to Buddhism.
Or Shinto.
I’m aware temples and shrines are two different things, but still seemingly get them confused even years later. I believe if there is a torii, it marks the entrance to a Shinto shrine while if it is absent, and incense and statues are present – it’s a Buddhist temple.
Anyway, I’m not quite sure what this post was, but I wanted to write it anyway.
I’m trying to get into the habit of indulging on impulses more, and we can all think of this as a ‘sneak peek’ for content that I will later be covering.
But, tell me your thoughts.
Do you find Buddhist statues to sometimes appear very intimidating? Or, was that the way they were originally meant to be designed?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more Anime Theories and Discussions!
☆ In Asian Spaces ☆ Ephesians 6:12 ☆
Leave a Reply