Chinese visual texts, Japanese spatial contexts: Mandala installation and the reading of empowered space in Japan

This article analyzes the various display strategies for the Diamond and Womb World mandalas of esoteric Shingon (C. zhenyan) Buddhism in Japan, which Kukai (774-835 CE)first imported from China in 806 CE. It will offer contextualized spatialhermeneutics to interpret the ritual-functional significance of theiremplacements. Specifically, it will consider traditional emplacements such as the parallel confrontation model and the frontal display model, which are most often discussed in the context of lay or monastic initiation ceremonies (kechien kanjo), annual state protecting rites (goshichinichimishuho), and Shingon's ubiquitous goma fire ceremonies. However, it will also consider new and original (or simply idiosyncratic) examples in modern Japan that nevertheless show the versatility and adaptability of the twin mandala motif fordistinct functional purposes. Emplacements on ceilings, on doors, behind founders' portraits or even arguably in government buildings, all suggest that the functions of Shingon's double mandala motif range from individual propitiation and commemoration to advancing sectarian and national ideologies.