King Wuguan

The fourth court

King Wuguan is fourth among the Ten Kings in this atlas. In the Yuli Baochao tradition, he governs a major hell and sixteen subsidiary hells, with names connected in some accounts to a blood pool. Offences include deceit in transactions and failures concerning taxes or rents. These are features of a particular historical morality-book scheme.

A figure shaped by texts and temples

Formal court clothing and a ceremonial tablet place Wuguan within the imagery of government. His personal appearance, the spelling of his title, and the precise assignment of punishments are not identical across sources. The wider system developed through Chinese Buddhist funerary texts and local worship before later books elaborated its court procedures. The atlas preserves this familiar fourth-court position while marking the description as one influential tradition, rather than a universal statement of Buddhist doctrine or a timeless standard of justice.