Showing posts with label kannon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kannon. Show all posts

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Tsurugake Kannon Saifukuji Temple 76 Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Saifukuji Temple, number 76 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, is located on a mountainside overlooking the Sasa River north of Sasebo, Nagasaki.


The road up to the temple was a long gentle slope, for which I was grateful. The biggest building was a very large, modern house, I'm guessing the priest's residence.


A small main hall had a statue of Kobo Daishi standing outside it.


There were rows of Mizuko Jizo lining the approach.


The most interesting thing was the okunoin of the temple, a cave in the cliff behind the main hall.


It is said that the cave had been used by yamabushi, mountain ascetics, since the Heian Period.


It is actually not really a cave anymore as the ceiling has collapsed, leaving a stone bridge, or arch.


There were many small altars within the okunoin, and, not surprisingly,  a predominance of Fudo statues.


The temple itself is actually not so old, being founded in the late Meiji Period, but its origins go back a bit further.


At the end of the 16th century was the Warring States Period was coming to a close, a battle took place here between two rival clans.


In the late 18th century the Hirado Lord laced 5 statues on the mountain, including a Kannon, as a prayer memorial to the samurai who had died. Over time the statues were forgotten and buried by landslides.


In 1894, a local man, a devout worshipper of Kannon, became mortally ill and had a vision showing where the statues were buried. His family dug in the spot and found the statues, including the Eleven-Faced Kannon which is the honzon of Saifukuji. The man was miraculously healed and the Kannon has become famous ever since.


The previous post was on the Sechibaru Coal Mine Museum at the foot of the mountain.


Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Climb to Senganji Temple

 


Kawamoto is the next town up the Gonokawa River from my village.


Halfway up the steep hillside across the river from downtown Kawamoto is a small temple, Senganji.


The temple becomes really visible in late Autumn when the trees around it turn orange, yellow, and red.


I have actually only made it up to the temple one time, after walking down from Iwami Ginzan on day 5 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage.


Senganji is temple number 9 on that pilgrimage.


There is no vehicular access to Senganji, only a footpath with more than 200 steps, which is, I think, a large reason the temple has been uninhabited for a long time.


There are numerous statues along the path, inlcuding a lot of Jizo but also some Kannon.


When I visited in the late afternoon in May, the shafts of sunlight illumnated many of the statues quite dramatically.


Tomorrow I will post photos from inside the temple and include what history I have been able to find out.



According to a recent photo I saw, the structure housing this collection of statues has  now completely collapsed.


The temple occuppies a narrow ledge in the steep hillside.


The previous post in this series on the Iwami kannon pilgrimage was Ido Shrine in Omori.


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Korin-in Temple 72 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Korin-in is, like the previous pilgrimage temple I visited the evening before, Daiichi-in, an urban temple mostly built in concrete.


It is also a relatively new temple, being founded in 1896, at a time when Sasebo was growing rapidly as a naval base.


The one wooden building is a Bishamon-do enshrining Bishamonten.


The honzon is an Amida. Also enshrined in the main hall is a Gyoran Kannon, a not-so-common form of Kannon, as well as the obligatory Kobo Daishi, Aizen Myo, Fudo Myo, and a Jizo.


Outside are a couple of Fudo statues including quite a large one.


I visited at the start of day 67 of my walk around the Kyushu pilgrimage. The previous post was my diary for day 66 which includes links to the three pilgrimage temples I visited that day.


Friday, January 26, 2024

Taisanji Temple 52 on the Shikoku pilgrimage

 


The main hall of Taisan-ji Temple, built in 1305, in the mountains to the northwest of Matsuyama City is a National Treasure and is truly one of the most elegant of the buildings on the pilgrimage.


Number 52 on the Shikoku pilgrimage, it claims to be one of the oldest temples on the pilgrimage.


According to the legend, Mano Choja, a wealthy man from Bungo in Kyushu was heading to Osaka on business in 587. Caught in a storm, his ship was in danger of sinking but was saved by a light shining from the spot where the temple now stands.


Guided to land safely, he climbed the mountain and discovered a miniature statue of Kannon.


He came back with a team of craftsmen from Bungo and according to the legend raised the main hall in one night. Later Gyoki visited and carved a Kannon statue and placed the original statue discovered by Choja inside it. In 739 Gyoki built the temple in the form it is now.


It is said that Shotoku Taishi visited here and there is a statue of him in the octagonal Shtokutaishi Hall.


Later, Kobo Daishi visited and converted the temple to Shingon. The Nio gate also dates back to the temple rebuilding of 1305. In the next post, I will show some of the statues and paintings found here.


The previous post in this series on the Shikoku Ohenro was on temple 51, Ishiteji Temple.


Friday, January 19, 2024

Fukuishi Kannon Seiganji Temple

 


Fukuishi Kannon is the popular name for Seiganji Temple in Sasebo, Nagasaki.


It's origin lies with a visit by Gyoki to the area in 710. While here he carved 3 statues from a sacred tree, one of which, a two metre tall 11-faced Kannon, he enshrined here.


It is classed as one of the Seven Famous Kannon statues in Kyushu.


When Kobo Daishi visited the area about a century later he established Seiganji Temple.


It is also said he placed 500 rakan statues in the cave behind the temple.


Rather than a cave, it is actually a wide, curved overhang in the cliff.


Over the centuries many of the statues disappeared but there still remains a collection of assorted statues, many not rakan, in the cave.


The current main hall was built by the local lord, Matsuura Seizan, in 1785,


He became Daimyo of the Hirado Domain when only 16 and later became a renowned swordsman.


It is a Shingon temple and the honzon is the Gyoki Kannon.


Held in August, the Sennichi Festival is one of the major festivals of Sasebo.


It is claimed that coming here and praying here for just one day during the festival is the equivalent to praying for 46,000 days, hence the name of the festival Shiman Rokusen Nichi, which means 46,000 days.


I visited on day 66 of my walk along the Kyushu Shingon pilgrimage, although the temple itself is not part of the pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was Jozenji Temple.