Niou-zou: Statues of Niou

Niou-zou: Statues of a pair of guardians

Niou-zou, this means a par of statues symbolizing the old Sumo-Wrestlers. But the figure is different from modern Sumo-Wrestler. Usually they are made with wood and placed at the gate of the temple. Their purpose is to guard the temple and considered to be the guardians of Buddha.

When we visit some old temples in Kyoto or Nara for example, we can find the old Niou-zou and they are very interesting. Usually I like to take a picture of them in the temple. Most of them were curved amazingly and some of them were made more than 500 or 600 years ago. I feel they are wonderful because most of them were made of real wood.
They look very powerful and strong! I have no idea to fight with them, no thanks.

There are some of them which are Japanese National Treasures made by historically famous sculptors. You can see the picture of the gate of old famous Horyu-ji temple with two Niou-zou statues. One is at the right side and the other is at the left side. The right one opens his mouth and the left one closes, this is standardized by Buddhism. Please see carefully.

Horyu-ji temple and a pair of Niou-zou

Fumi's e-mail address: fumi.kobayashi@nifty.com