Fudō-sama is one scary looking dude. But he has a good heart.

Watch out for Fudō-sama. He'll help you on the path to nirvāṇa, but that sword and fire makes it look like it might be tough love.

Actually his name is Fudō-myōō, 不動明王 in kanji, but you will hear most Japanese referring to him respectfully as o-Fudō-sama. In other Buddhism, he may be more familiar by his Sanskrit name, Acala or Acalanātha. He is classified as a wisdom king, but if you don't know what that is don't worry about it. Think of him as a kind of Buddhist saint.

Fudō-sama is a pretty popular figure. He is said to protect us all by burning away all impediments and defilements, aiding us towards enlightenment. He is also one of the judges one faces in the path to being reborn in the Japanese afterlife.

Sometimes in Japan you will see this symbol near him:

It is the seed syllable for him, written in the Siddham script for which there is no unicode (hence the gif). The Siddham script is fairly common in Japanese Buddhism for writing Sanskrit. It is pronounced kān in Japanese.

I found this statue at a Buddhist temple hidden away in a small forest on a hill in an otherwise busy area. Funny what you find in the cracks, so to speak, in Japan. This is one of my favorite things about the country—the temples and shrines hidden where you least expect them.

	David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.