The Buddhist hell is a fiery, horrifying underworld where the souls of the deceased are assessed by the 10 (or 13) judges of hell over the course of seven trials. Leading the jury is the Rhadamanthine overlord En’ma Daiō, a familiar figure in Japanese culture. While the popularity of the Ten Kings of Hell is humble compared to the major deities and bodhisattvas, there remain a number of Buddhist temples dedicated to these infernal judges across Japan. One of the most impressive of these Jūōdō (“Hall of the Ten Kings”)…
