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 These 28 deities protect those who believe in Senju Kannon. They appear in the Tang period (7-9th centuries) in Chinese translations of texts devoted to Kannon.
The list of the 28 varies. For example, the Gods of Wind and Thunder (Fūjin 風神 and Raijin 雷神) were added to the group in later years. Life-size statues of all 28 (dated to the mid-13th century) are housed at Sanjūsangendō 三十三間堂 in Kyoto, where they guard the principal statue of the seated Senju Kannon (11-feet tall). The temple also features 1,000 standing statues of the Senju Kannon. The group is not worshipped as an independent object of devotion, but it does appear often in paintings. The below list comes from Sanjusangendo in Kyoto.
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26
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Ashura-ou
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Asuras are demigods, or semi-blessed beings. They are powerful, yet fierce and quarrelsome, and like humans, they are partly good and partly evil. In their earliest Hindu and Brahman manifestations, the Ashura are always fighting the Ten (Deva) for supremancy (often battling the deities commanded by Taishakuten, the Lord Indra of Hindu mythology).
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GODS OF WIND AND THUNDER
The Gods of Wind (Fūjin 風神) and Thunder (Raijin 雷神)
were later added to this grouping of 28 protector deities.
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Says Jaanus: These two gods are based on Hindu deities (Skt. = Vayu and Varun) and Chinese dieties (Fengshe 風神 and Leigong 雷公). In Esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyou 密教), the Wind God is included among the Twelve Devas (Jūniten 十二天) as Fūten 風天 and among the Gods of the Realms and Eight Directions (Gosei Happōten 護世八方天) as the guardian of the northwest. The Wind God is also associated with the constellation Sagittarius (Jp: Iteza 射手座).
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Raijin (God of Rain)
Surrounded by drums to make thunder
13th century, wood, Sanjusangendo in Kyoto
Scanned from temple brochure
Fuujin (God of Wind)
13th century, wood, Sanjusangendo in Kyoto
Scanned from temple brochure
 
(L) Raijin (R) Fuujin
Same images as above. Click image for larger photo.
Below Text Courtesy of:
Japanese Legendary Lives by Gen-ichi NISHIO
Fujin is the god of wind, and Raijin is a the god of thunder, who are depicted in Chinese legends. Both are thought to live above the clouds. Fujin is usually depicted as a muscled man with a big cloth sack, which is filled with numerous winds. When he opens his sack, a blast of wind escapes.
Raijin (or Raiden) is usually depicted as a muscled man with a series of drums around him, with which he made the rumbling of thunder. Raijin looks like a Oni, and the two are often confused. A legend of Chinese Buddhism says that the two gods were originally evil demons who opposed Buddha. So Buddha ordered his heavenly army to capture the two demons. After a severe battle between demons and 33 gods, the two demons were finally captured. They have been working for heaven ever since. Raijin (or Raiden) got his name from the two Japanese words rai for thunder and den for lightening. According to the Japanese legend he saved Japan from a fleet of invading Mongolians in 1274 AD. The way he managed it was to sit on a cloud, throwing a shower of lightening arrows against the Mongolian fleet. As the god of thunder, Raiden is shown with a drum.
 
Artist Tawaraya Sotatsu (about 1600-1640 AD)
Thunder and Wind Gods, Screen, Important Cultural Property
Gold leaf and ink on paper; section of a folding screen
Edo Period (1615 - 1868)
Located at Kennin-ji in Kyoto
Says Akiyama Terukazu: Expression becomes freer and more dynamic in the pair of screen paintings representing the Wind God and the Thunder God, in the Kennin-ji at Kyoto. By assimilating the classical iconography of these divinities and taking inspiration from the polychrome statues erected in the early 13th century in the sanctuary of the Renge-o-in, and more particularly from the lightning god in the illuminated scroll of Kitano-tenjin-engi, Sotatsu succeeds in reconciling energy of movement with a decorative effect. This composition, often copied by his successors, marks one of the culminating points of his art. One of the few facts we know for certain of Sotatsu's life is that in the autumn of 1630, having already acquired the dignity of hokkyo (third in rank of the honorary titles of Buddhist monks, which could also be granted to lay artists), he copied four illuminated scrolls of the Saigyo-hoshi-ekotoba (Life of the Poet-Monk Saigyo).
 
Artist Ogata Korin (1658-1716 AD)
Thunder and Wind Gods, Screen, Important Cultural Property
Photo and Text Courtesy of Tokyo National Museum
Both the Wind God and the Thunder God are originally subordinates to the Senju Kannon, and worshipped together with Kannon's 28 attendants. This is a copy of Sotatsu's crowning work by Korin. While Sotatsu's original picture is characterized by a broad gold space and a composition with a strong feeling of tension, where the Wind God and the Thunder God face each other from both ends, Korin showed a difference in creative sense by stabilizing the composition by placing the two gods at the center and trying to depict the figures of the two gods clearly with bright primary colors.
For more on the Sotatsu - Korin School of painting (17th to 19th Century), please see the review by Akiyama Terukazu. Also see a slide show of many works by Sotatsu and Korin by clicking here.
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