Narrow Road To The Deep North 44

We entered a world of towering green and brown cedars and blue sky and suffused sunlight. It could have been a slope of our own Mount Benson, but for the flagstones and gravel and big stone lanterns, and the riotous colors of intricate Disney log cabin wood puzzle shrines that floated up like magic mushrooms around us. To our left was an enchanted 115-foot five-story pagoda, radiating lichen and vermilion and gold and blue and white. Animal sculptures decorated the first layer in twelve different zodiac signs and directions. An interior central pillar floated inches above the ground, designed to stabilize shrinking wood and sinking roofs during any earthquake.
The second portal was the Omotemon Front Gate, whose eastern wall contained the Aboumaru, the biggest stone in the complex, over 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. 
North was considered the taboo direction, from where demons came. In order to protect Japan from evil, Iemetsu placed two big menacing pink and carnelian warrior guardians at the entrance. They were called Kongōrikishi or Niō, and the reason why the Omotemon used to be called Nioh-mon Gate. Over thirteen feet high, the pair of scaries is the oldest and most powerful Bodhisattva protector deities in the Mahāyāna pantheon. In the nightclub of Nirvana these wrath-filled muscle-bound wrestlers were Buddha’s bouncers.
The statue on the right is Misshaku Kongō. A symbol of overt violence, he brandishes a vajra-pāṇi mallet, diamond club, thunderbolt stick, or sun symbol, and bares his teeth. He wields the kongōsho and he can crush your enemies. Depend on him, pray to him that he will protect you as he protects the Buddha. He vibrates with energy and spiritual power which you can absorb in times of need. He is also called Agyō, after the shape of his mouth, open to form an ‘ah’ sound, the vocalization of the first grapheme of Sanskrit alphabet.
The statue on the left is Naraen Kongō. A symbol of latent strength, he is depicted as either barehanded, or wielding a sword. He is also called Ungyō, after the shape of his mouth, shut to form an ‘un’ or ‘hūṃ’ sound, the vocalization of the last grapheme of the Devanāgarī.
There may be syncretic Hellenistic influences in play here. Kongōrikishi may actually be avatar images of the Greek hero Heracles, transmitted to East Asia along the Silk Road, used in Greco-Buddhist art to represent Buddha’s protector, Vajrapāṇi. But there was an even deeper symbolism at work. These two Deva Kings together represented the birth and death of all things. Men are born speaking the ‘a’ sound with mouths open and die speaking a ‘ɦūṃ’ with their mouths closed. Not unlike Alpha and Omega in Christianity, they signify ‘everything’ or ‘all creation.’ The contraction of both is ‘Aum,’ which is Sanskrit for The Absolute- the jewel in the lotus. Aum mani padme ɦūṃ.
On the side of the gate were images of a Karajishi Chinese lion and tapir, and 82 other sculptures faced the passage, including giraffes and tigers.  The second tiger had circles instead stripes, because the Edo Japanese thought that leopards were actually female tigers.