Jigoku’s Connections

About Jigoku →

Serves

• Emma-O

  Emma-Ō rules Jigoku, the multilayered Buddhist hell realms where condemned souls undergo punishment and purification. He assigns the dead to specific hells based on their sins as revealed by the Mirror of Karma.

Equivalent to

• Diyu(Chinese),Naraka(Hindu),Naraka(Buddhist)

  Dìyù, Naraka, and Jigoku all descend from the same transmitted concept of a subterranean realm of karmic punishment — originating in Vedic-Puranic cosmology, adopted into Buddhist doctrine, then carried to China via sūtra translations and onward to Japan as Jigoku (地獄).

Associated with

• Jizō

  Jizō wanders the deepest layers of Jigoku bearing his staff and luminous jewel, pulling condemned souls out of the fire and ice, rescuing even those abandoned by every other bodhisattva.

• Kannon

  Kannon descends into Jigoku to rescue condemned souls, particularly those who called upon the bodhisattva during life. In setsuwa tales, even beings suffering in the deepest hell realms can be saved by Kannon's compassion.