Yama ［閻魔］ (, Pali;  Emma): Also known as King Yama. The Vedas describe Yama as the first man to enter the world of the dead and who became the king there. That world was considered a paradise and the king not a punisher of sinners. Later Brahmanic mythology regarded him as one of the guardians ( lokapāla) of the four cardinal directions, the regent of the south dwelling in a heaven above the world. Finally Yama became known as the just judge (dharma-rāja) of the underworld who confronts the dead with a record of their actions while alive and determines their retributions. Though Buddhism originally had no such belief in judgment, Yama was incorporated into Buddhist mythology in China, Tibet, and Japan as the lord of the underworld. In China, under Taoist influence, Yama became one of the ten kings of purgatory and ruled the fifth court, which the dead are said to reach on the thirty-fifth day after death. This image of Yama was introduced to Japan, but Japanese folk belief came to regard Yama both as the judge of the dead and as their guardian deity. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, Yama is regarded as the king of hell who judges and determines the rewards and punishments of the dead.