Datei:Koya kami.jpg

Mandala, Vier Kami von Berg Kōya Hängerollbild, mandara (Seide, Farbe, Gold); 94,9 x 40,6 cm
Bild © Metropolitan Museum. (Letzter Zugriff: 2011/12/12)The four deities in court dress in this painting represent a hierarchy of local Shinto gods (kami) involved in the founding and perpetuation of the great Shingon Esoteric Buddhist headquarters on Mount Kôya. The upper pair comprises Kariba Myôjin (male) and Niu Myôjin (female), the gods of the mountain who welcomed the monk Kôkai (774–835) as he searched for a site on which to build a temple. The other two deities in the painting — Kehi, on the right, and Itsukushima Myôjin, playing a lute on the left — were worshiped by the Taira clan. All four deities are identified as local manifestations of Buddhist gods: Kariba and Niu are aspects of Dainichi Nyorai (Sanskrit: Mahavairochana); Kehi is an aspect of the Thousand-Armed Kannon (Avalokiteshvara); and Itsukushima is an aspect of Benzaiten (Saraswati).