GOZU TENNO

Lit. 'Ox-head emperor'. The popular Buddhist name of the purifying kamiSusa-no-o-no-mikoto, tutelary deity of theGion shrineandGion matsuri. He is regarded as agongenof Yakushi-nyorai the healing Buddha and therefore a protector against disease and pestilence. Gozu literally means ox-head (just as Oxford means an ox-ford) but in Buddhist tradition it is also the name of a religious mountain in China (niu-t'ou), and India (Goshirsha or Malaya). See Yasaka jinja, Tenno.