Fudo Myouou
(Skt: Acalanatha) Fudo is a Buddhist deity who serves practitioners by defeating the obstacles and devils which hinder Buddhist practice. He is regarded as the head of five great deities, the other four being Gosanze, Gundari, Daiitoku and Kongoyasha, as well as of eight great deities (the above five plus Ususama, Munsosho, and Mezu). It is said he enters into a flame-emitting meditation (Jap: kasho zammai) in which he exudes flames and destroys all karmic hindrances. Because he never yields to obstacles, he is called Fudo (Immovable). He is popularly depicted as an angry figure surrounded by flames, holding a rope and a sword. His name is inscribed in Siddha, a medieval Sanskrit orthography, on the right side of the Gohonzon as one faces it, signifying that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana (Jap: Shoji Soku Nehan).
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