Sunlight and Moonlight - Sunlight and Moonlight

Japanese: 日光･月光 - にっこうがっこう

As attendants of Yakushi Nyorai, their names are mentioned in the Yakushi Hongankyo, but their appearance is not described in detail. Generally, their iconographical features are characterized by a lotus flower on which they hold a sun and moon disk. The oldest examples are the two attendants of the Yakushi Triad at Yakushiji Temple, and there is a standing clay statue from the Nara period called Nikko and Gekko in the Sangatsudo Hall of Todaiji Temple. In the Heian period, there are many examples of them as attendants of the Yakushi Triad, such as in the lecture hall of Horyuji Temple, Katsuo-ji Temple in Osaka, Daigo-ji Temple, and Hojo-bo in Kanagawa, but the iconography is not necessarily uniform among them. Yakushi [Momohashi Akiho]

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

薬師如来の脇侍として，《薬師本願経》には名のみ記されるが，その像容などは詳説されない。一般には蓮華上に日輪･月輪を執るのを図像的特色とする。薬師寺の薬師三尊像の両脇侍を最古の例とし，東大寺三月堂に日光･月光と伝える奈良時代の塑造立像があり，平安時代には法隆寺講堂，大阪勝尾寺，醍醐寺，神奈川宝城坊など，薬師三尊像の脇侍として造立された多くの作例があげられるが，おのおの図像的には必ずしも一様ではない。薬師【百橋明穂】

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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