page_title: Myōken
section_title: Spread to Japan
hierarchical_section_title: Myōken / Spread to Japan
caption_attribution_description: English: Myōken Bosatsu, from the Butsuzōzui.
context_page_description: Myōken, also known as Sonshō-Ō, is a Buddhist deity revered as the deification of the North Star. Worship of Myōken is mainly associated with the Nichiren, Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism.
context_section_description: The cult of Myōken is thought to have been brought in Japan during the 7th century by immigrants (toraijin) from Goguryeo and Baekje. During the reign of Emperor Tenji (661–672), the toraijin were resettled in the easternmost parts of the country; as a result, Myōken worship spread throughout the eastern provinces.
  By the Heian period, pole star worship had become widespread enough that imperial decrees banned it for the reason that it involved "mingling of men and women," and thus caused ritual impurity. Pole star worship was also forbidden among the inhabitants of the capital and nearby areas when the imperial princess (saiō) made her way to Ise to begin her service at the shrines. Nevertheless, the cult of the pole star left its mark on imperial rituals such as the emperor's enthronement and the worship of the imperial clan deity at Ise Shrine. Worship of the pole star was also practiced in Onmyōdō, where it was deified as Chintaku Reifujin (鎮宅霊符神).
  Myōken worship was particularly prevalent among clans based in eastern Japan (the modern Kantō and Tōhoku regions), with the Kanmu Taira clan (Kanmu Heishi) and their offshoots such as the Chiba and the Sōma clans being among the deity's notable devotees. One legend claims that Taira no Masakado was a devotee of Myōken, who aided him in his military exploits. When Masakado grew proud and arrogant, the deity withdrew his favor and instead aided Masakado's uncle Yoshifumi, the ancestor of the Chiba clan. Owing to his status as the Chiba clan's ujigami (guardian deity), temples and shrines dedicated to Myōken are particularly numerous in former Chiba territories. Myōken worship is also prevalent in many Nichiren-shū Buddhist temples due to the clan's connections with the school's Nakayama lineage.
  Veneration of Myōken as a god of war is believed to derive from the practice of worshiping the easternmost star of the Big Dipper, Alkaid (η UMa), known in Chinese as the 'Broken Army' or the 'Destroyer of Armies' (破軍星, Pinyin: Pòjūn xīng; Japanese: Hagunsei) to bring success in battle. The Sutra of the Big Dipper for Prolonging Life (北斗七星延命經, Pinyin: Běidǒu qīxīng yánmìng jīng; T. 1307) identifies Alkaid with the buddha Bhaisajyaguru (Yakushi Nyorai), so that Myōken is thus sometimes considered to be a manifestation of Bhaisajyaguru. In other traditions Myōken was also associated with Kisshōten (Mahāśrī, one of the Seven Lucky Gods). Indeed, some early depictions of Myōken shared similar attributes to those of Kisshōten that a number of what are commonly believed to be depictions of Kisshōten may have originally been Myōken statues.
  During the late Edo period, the kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane identified the Big Dipper with the primordial deity Amenominakanushi-no-Kami. Due to the separation of Buddhism and Shinto, many shrines (and some temples) dedicated to Myōken officially became Amenominakanushi shrines. Myoken has also been identified (albeit less commonly) with the star god Amatsumikaboshi.
caption: Myōken riding a tortoise
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