Muromachi period (15th century)
Important Art Object
Donated by the Homma family
The Thirty Guardian Deities are thirty Buddhist guardian deities, one for each day of the lunar month, who are believed to protect the nation and act as guardians of the Lotus Sutra.
Based on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the Consecration Sutra, these deities were first enshrined on Mount Hiei by Saichō (a Japanese monk from the Heian period who founded the Tendai sect of Buddhism). Worship of the Thirty Guardian Deities spread throughout the general populace towards the end of the Heian period (794–1185). In the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the Thirty Guardian Deities became the guardian deities of the emperor, and various statues and paintings depicting their forms were created. Later, these deities came to be worshiped with particular devotion in the Nichiren sect of Buddhism.