The Buddhist Goddess Dakini

This complex and colorful painting shows how Esoteric Buddhist iconography was both transformed and reenergized in Early Modern Japan. Dakini, a female deity who originated in ancient Hindu traditions, is known for riding a white fox and embodying powers associated with fertility and vital force. Introduced into Japan through Esoteric Shingon Buddhism, she came to be especially venerated at the imperial court as part of esoteric ritual practice. Because of her association with the fox, she has also been regarded as the Shinto deity Inari and revered as a protective force. For comparison, The Met has an exceedingly rare painting of Dakiniten, dating to the fourteenth century (2000.274).

In this image she appears with three large faces, often interpreted from right to left as Kangiten with an elephant head, Dakini, and Benzaiten, with smaller heads rising above the central triad. She is adorned with symbols of the sun and moon, together with the Northern Dipper placed at the top of the halo to suggest her celestial power. Her fox riding attendants stand upon floating lotus petals, completing the elaborate heavenly composition.