Daiitoku Myoo. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 28 1/4 x 21 1/8 in. (71.8 x 53.7 cm)Overall with mounting: 65 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (166.4 x 67.3 cm)Overall with knobs: 65 1/2 x 28 1/2 in. (166.4 x 72.4 cm). Date: 12th century.Daiitoku Myoo (Sanskrit: Yamantaka) is one of the five Great Light Kings of Esoteric Buddhism. His Sanskrit name means "one who stops the power of the King of Hell." He is shown with multiple heads, eyes, legs, and arms. Four hands hold a trident, a wheel, a sword, and a jeweled club while two hands join, with only the middle finger extended, in the mudra of restraint (konpon-in). Introduced from China by Kukai (774-836), the five Great Light Kings became important ritual icons called upon to protect the nation during the Sutra of the Benevolent Kings Assembly, which was performed on special occasions. This drawing is almost identical in form to an image of Daiitoku Myoo that appears in an iconographic scroll of deities from the Sutra of the Benevolent Kings (Nin