五大明王

Japanese
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
五 大 明 王
ご
Grade: 1		 だい
Grade: 1		 みょう
Grade: 2		 おう
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Etymology

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

Proper noun

五(ご)大(だい)明(みょう)王(おう) • (Go Dai Myōō) 

  1. the Five Wisdom Kings in Vajrayana Buddhism

Usage notes

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

Synonyms
  • 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

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

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