五大明王

Japanese

五大明王 (Go Dai Myōō): the Five Wisdom Kings are the blue figures to the right in this image.

Kanji in this term
五	大	明	王
ご Grade: 1	だい Grade: 1	みょう Grade: 2	おう Grade: 1
on’yomi

Etymology

Buddhist term, imported into Japanese when Buddhism was introduced to Japan, some time during the Kofun, Asuka, and Nara periods.

From Middle Chinese 五大明王 (*ngǒ *dhɑ̀i *miæng *hiuɑng, literally “five great wisdom kings”). The 明王 (*miæng *hiuɑng, “wisdom king”) portion is a translation of Sanskrit विद्याराज (vidyārāja, “knowledge king”).

Compare modern Mandarin 五大明王 (Wǔ Dà Míngwáng).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ごだいみょーお​ー [gò dáí myóóóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [6])
• IPA^(key): [ɡo̞ da̠i mʲo̞ːo̞ː]

Proper noun

五(ご)大(だい)明(みょう)王(おう) • (Go Dai Myōō) 

1. the Five Wisdom Kings in Vajrayana Buddhism

Usage notes

When borrowed into English, this term is more often romanized as Godai Myōō.

Synonyms

• 五大尊 (ごだいそん, ​Go Dai Son): the Five Great Reverences
• 五大尊明王 (ごだいそんみょうおう, ​Go Dai Son Myōō): the Five Great Reverent Wisdom Kings
• 五力明王 (ごりきみょうおう, ​Go Riki Myōō): the Five Powerful Wisdom Kings

Coordinate terms

The 五大明王 (Go Dai Myōō, “Five Wisdom Kings”) and associated directions are:

• 大威德明王 (だいいとくみょうおう, ​Daiitoku Myōō): west
• 降三世明王 (ごうざんぜんみょうおう, ​Gōzanze Myōō): east
• 不動明王 (ふどうみょうおう, ​Fudō Myōō): center
• 不空成就如来 (金剛夜叉明王, ​Kongō Yasha Myōō): north
• 軍荼利明王 (ぐんだりみょうおう, ​Gundari Myōō): south

References

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN