NI-Õ

 EXECERPT FROM THIS BOOK: A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN JAPAN (INCLUDING FORMOSA), BY BASIL CHAMBERLAIN,F.R.G.S. AND W.B. MASON, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND LATE OF THE IMPERIAL  JAPANESE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS. WITH THIRTY MAPS AND PLANS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. NINTH EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT. LONDON. JOHN MURRAY, ALLEMARLE STREET. YOKOHAMA, SHANGHAI,- KELLY&WALSH, LIMITED-HONKONG, SINGAPORE.1913

NI-Õ 

IS A TEMPLE GUARDIAN, THEY ARE GUARDING THE ENTRANCE TO THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE.. TEMPLE GUARDIANS ARE ALWAYS TWO.

NI-ō- lit. The Two Dêva Kings - Indra and Brahma, who keep guard at the outer gate of temples, to scare away the demons. One bears in his hand the tokko. The figures of the Ni-ō are of the gigantic size and of the terrific appearance. And they are often bespattered with the little pellets of paper, aimed at them by devotees, who think thus to secure the accomplishment of some desire on which they have set their hearts on.
Ni Õ are to be seen in some of the great temple gateways in Tōkyō, Kyōto and elsewhere. The grandest of all are those in the Ni-Õ-Mon or "Two Kings Gate" of the huge Todaiji temple at Nara, They are eight hundred years old. It is impossible not to admire the conception of stormy dignity and hurricane force, embodied in those colossal figures.

Prayers are addressed to the Ni-Õ, especially by pilgrims. Most of their statues are disfigured by little pellets of white paper which people chew into a pulp and then spit at them. There is a curious superstition that if the pellet sticks to the statue, the prayer is heard; if. on the other hand, it falls to the ground,- the prayer will not be answered 31 

TEMPLE GUARDIANS Two temple guardians or gate keepers. Nio standing about eight and a half feet in height,. These carvings are about three hundred years of age having originally stood in front of the gate of the Temple at Nara Japan. They were bought  to the USA with income from the Joseph E Temple Trust M Nos 97 688 and 689.

 Such grotesque statues called Nio from the Japanese NI -"two" and O -king- "two kings".- were made of wood, carved and painted and were usually placed at the gate of a Buddhist temple to keep out devils. 

CITATIONS FROM

GLIMPSES OF  UNFAMILIAR JAPAN, BY LAFCADIO HEARN 

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY  MDCCCCXXII 

GENERAL GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ART IN MEMORIAL HALL FAIRMOUNT PARK PHILADELPHIA PA 

PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM REVISED TO JANUARY 1st 1910