Fudō is the most popular of the Shingon deities known as "Myōō," Kings of Brightness. Fudō, the Immovable, a name deriving from his pose, either stands or sits firmly on a rock. Although his appearance is wrathful, he is a compassionate being who protects the faithful and subjugates evil forces, as represented by his two attributes, rope and sword. Convention prescribes that Fudō also be represented with a plump, boyish body, bulging eyes—the right one open and looking up, while the left, narrowed, looks down so as to see both heaven and earth—fanglike teeth, and braided hair. In keeping with the symbolic color schemes characteristic of Shingon art, Fudō's hair was once painted red and his flesh blue-green. This statue was formerly the central icon of the Kuhon-ji Gomadō in Funasaka, twenty miles northwest of Kyoto. A gomadō is a small hall attached to Shingon temples used for a fire-burning ritual through which defilements are symbolically destroyed.
