Ema (votive plaque) with lion and King Udayana

唐獅子優填王図絵馬 一面 板地着色 江戸時代 寛永6年

What is this huge, dappled beast with the bushy brown tail? Who is the fierce-looking man at his side? This ema, or wooden votive plaque, features a mythical Chinese lion, or karashishi, and his caretaker King Udayana (Japanese: Utenno). These figures are associated with a Buddhist god Manjushri (Japanese: Monju), the bodhisattva of wisdom. The lion is Manjushri's mount, and Udayana one of his four attendants. The lion is one of several divine creatures to appear in Buddhist paintings.

An ink inscription tells us that this plaque was given as a religious offering in 1639. Most votive plaques are found at Shinto shrines (see the large horse ema across the room), but given its Buddhist subject matter, is it possible that this one once belonged to a Buddhist temple? In fact, there are a number of other plaques showing Udayana with a lion associated with Kofukuji, a major Buddhist temple located in Nara. But Kofukuji also has close ties with a neighboring Shinto shrine, Kasuga Taisha, and this type of ema, with its Shinto form and Buddhist subject matter, is undoubtedly the product of cross-fertilization between these two major religious traditions.