Fudo Myo & other Statues at Tokusenji

Tokusenji, in Kokura, though a very small urban temple had quite a few statues. As you know I take a lot of photos of statues.

I am intrigued by the diversity, evident in these first three photos which are all representatios of Fudo MyoO, ome of my favorite deities.

Nowadays there is a tendency away from diversity towards uniformity and conformity. Most statues are made in factories or by using the same data to control the machines that carve them. Exactly the same statues of Fudo or Komainu etc are now appearing all over the country. But there are still some places and people who will resist that.

As I continue to learn about the various deities I come across I have gotten much better at identifying them, but still have so much to learn. I am guessing this photo above is a version of Kannon, usually depicted as being quite slender, but here quite full-figured. Then again it could well be a variation of another deity....

Again, my guess is that this is Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. Statues of him come in a variety of forms too, but as in this statue, represented as a mendicant monk is fairly common.