Despite its luxuriousness, this monk’s vestment uses a repurposed fabric donated to a monastery for the purpose of adorning the Buddha or his representatives. Such donations were made to accumulate the karmic merit that leads to a better rebirth. The six red rectangles at top and bottom refer to the rags previously collected and patched together by the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni for his own clothing and symbolize his renunciation of worldly pleasures and goods. The figures standing in the rectangles at the four corners represent the guardians of the four cardinal points (shitennō); often depicted on such vestments, they serve as protectors of both individuals and Buddhist practice.