What Are the Ten Kings — The Ten Judges of the Underworld and Their Buddhas

"What are the Ten Kings?" Many know Lord Enma yet do not know that Enma is "one of ten kings." This article explains the Ten Kings, the judges of the underworld, with their names and honji buddhas and the origins of the faith.

What the Ten Kings are

The Ten Kings are the ten kings said to judge the dead in turn in the underworld. Even the well-known Lord Enma is only one of these ten.

The dead are said to pass before these ten kings in turn, at set intervals of days after death, and to be questioned on their deeds one by one. That the judgment is not a single event but repeated many times is a defining feature of the Ten Kings idea.

The Ten Kings, their days, and their buddhas

The Ten Kings and the days of their judgment are generally handed down as follows.

#	King	Day of judgment	Honji buddha
1	Qinguang	7th day	Fudo Myoo
2	Chujiang	14th day	Shakyamuni
3	Songdi	21st day	Manjushri
4	Wuguan	28th day	Samantabhadra
5	Yama (Enma)	35th day	Jizo
6	Biancheng	42nd day	Maitreya
7	Taishan	49th day	Bhaisajyaguru
8	Pingdeng	100th day	Avalokiteshvara
9	Dushi	1st anniversary	Mahasthamaprapta
10	Wudao Zhuanlun	3rd anniversary	Amida

From the seventh day to the third memorial

Unless an exceptional saint or sinner, the dead are said to enter a suspended period between lives called the "intermediate state" (chuin). Through it, the king changes every seven days and judgment is handed down; at Taishan on the forty-ninth day, where one is reborn is said to be settled.

Thereafter the judgment continues at the hundredth day and the first and third anniversaries, and the last king, Wudao Zhuanlun, sees to which of the six realms one is sent. Datsueba, who strips robes at the Sanzu River, and the crystal mirror of judgment, which reflects one's deeds, are among the props that appear along this road of judgment.

Each king has an "honji buddha"

Another depth of the Ten Kings is the "honji buddha." The fearsome kings, it was held, are in truth buddhas and bodhisattvas who deliberately borrow a dread form to guide people.

Most moving is that the honji buddha of the central Yama is said to be Jizo Bodhisattva. Within the one who judges stands the one who saves. And the honji buddha of the last king, Wudao Zhuanlun, is Amida — the buddha who leads to the Pure Land. At the end of the line of judgment, a saving hand is prepared.

The origins of the faith

The Ten Kings idea is said to have arisen as Indian Buddhism passed into China and fused with Daoism and folk belief. Around the late Tang, a scripture called the Sutra of the Ten Kings (held to be an apocryphal, not canonical, text) was expounded and spread together with the practice of memorial offerings every seven days.

It reached Japan in the late Heian period, the Jizo Ten Kings Sutra was composed, and in the Kamakura period the pairing of the Ten Kings with honji buddhas was arranged. Not deciding a person's deeds in one stroke, but weighing them again and again — that careful gaze runs beneath this faith.

Growth into the Thirteen Buddhas, and memorial offerings

In Japan the faith grew into the "Thirteen Buddhas," adding three further memorial days (7th, 13th, and 33rd anniversaries) and their buddhas to the Ten Kings. That rites such as the seventh day and the forty-ninth day are still held today is because they are deeply tied to the custom of memorial offerings — the living offering good deeds for the deceased at these turning points of judgment. Beyond preaching terror, it was a frame that received the prayers of those left behind.

The king of judgment within Yurusen

This king of judgment lives on in the world of the app "Yurusen." The center of the Ten Kings, Enma — Lord Enma, who binds together the root of every ledger of judgment — is depicted standing at the deepest part of the Wraith Codex.

Just as the Ten Kings repeated their judgment many times, feelings of being unable to forgive are not settled in one stroke. Yurusen is your private place to give those repeating feelings the shape of stages and quietly bind them into the ledger.

You can view Enma and the other wraiths on the Wraith Codex page.