五大明王

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Japanese

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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

Grade: 1
だい
Grade: 1
みょう
Grade: 2
おう
Grade: 1
on'yomi

Etymology

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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

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  • (Tokyo) だいみょーお [gò dáí myóóóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [6])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ɡo̞ da̠i mʲo̞ːo̞ː]

Proper noun

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()(だい)(みょう)(おう) (Go Dai Myōō

  1. the Five Wisdom Kings in Vajrayana Buddhism

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

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  • 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

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

References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN