The Goddess on her Throne: Kisshōten as a Model of Female Sovereignty in Premodern Japan

This study examines the goddess Kisshōten as an embodiment of female sovereignty in early to medieval Japanese Buddhism, emphasizing how her female body functioned as a medium of political and spiritual authority. Tracing her origins to the Hindu deity Lakṣmī, Kisshōten inherited associations with fertility, beauty, and queenship, which were re-expressed in eighth-century Japan through statuary, ritual practice, and Buddhist texts offering instructions for creating and worshipping her image. Her divine body was central to repentance rites and temple art, allowing devotees to experience her presence ritually and materially. Powerful Fujiwara women, including Empresses Kōmyō and Kōken (later Shōtoku), actively promoted Kisshōten’s worship, using her female form as a model to articulate and legitimize their own authority. Through hidden statues, mandalas, and ritualized images, Kisshōten’s body operated as both a symbolic and material medium of female-centered rulership, shaping ideals of sovereignty, power, and gender in Nara-period Japan.