IncenseRiceSakeSaltA new year arrowFruit at the temple gate
Invocation Approach
Tone
Martial formal severe
Address
BishamontenBishamonTamontenGuardian of the North
Relationship
A soldier reporting to the officer at the north gate
Warning
He guards the gate and the gate does not negotiate
Resonance
Warriors martial artists shopkeepers those who keep a temple gate
Symbols
PagodaSpearArmourThe demon underfootThe north gateThe shitenno
Mythology Summary
Bishamonten is Vaisravana, one of the Four Heavenly Kings (Shitenno) who guard the cardinal directions in Buddhist cosmology, the king of the north and commander of the yakshas; in Japan he is also Tamonten, he who hears much, and the Shitenno-ji founded by Prince Shotoku in 593 is named for the four. He is shown in armour with a small pagoda in one hand and a spear in the other, standing on a demon, and from the medieval period he is also a god who distributes treasure, which is how he joined the Seven Lucky Gods as their only warrior. His cult is a living one at the great Shingon and Tendai temples and at the Bishamon halls of the old cities.
Modern Practice
He is honoured with incense, rice, sake and salt, at the New Year and at the temple's own festival. Practitioners ask him to hold a boundary — a shop, a dojo, a house, a term of work — and the offering is the ordinary one made at the gate rather than a bargain.