Koma no Shoun (高麗聖雲)
KOMA no Shoun (year of birth and death unknown) was a priest in the Nara period. It is believed that he was the third son of KOMA no Jakko from the royal family of Goguryeo (a kingdom of Korea). He was a disciple of Shoraku Shonin (Teranenso), the High Priest of the temple.
The master, Shoraku, tried to build a temple to worship the Shoten Buddha of Joy (a small statue of Buddha carried beside the body), which he brought from Goguryeo as a memorial for Jakko, who was believed to be the father of Shoten. However, as Shoraku died in 751, Konin, another disciple of Shoraku, built Shoten Shoraku-ji Temple (Hidaka City, Saitama Prefecture) of the Hosso sect of Buddhism (Japanese equivalent of the Chinese Faxiang sect) under the will of the deceased and buried him in the yard of the temple.
Shoten Shoraku-ji Temple
The temple is located in Hidaka City, Saitama Prefecture. The official name of the temple is Komazan Shoten-in Shoraku-ji. In 1345, the temple was converted to Shingon Buddhism from the Hosso sect of Buddhism by Shukai Shonin (the High Priest). In 1580, Enshin, the 25th Shonin (High Priest) installed Fudo Myoo (Acala - one of the five Kings of Wisdom) as honzon (the principal object of worship in the temple) and he enshrined Shoten Buddha of Joy, the previous honzon, as an associated deity. This Fudo Myoo is a small Buddhist statue kept inside a bigger Buddhist statue made by Kobo Daishi (posthumous title of the priest Kukai).