Showing posts with label yakushi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yakushi. Show all posts

Monday, February 19, 2024

From 28 Yakushi-do to 29 Kazaana-an

 


Yakushi-do, temple 28 on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage is located on the east coast and about halfway down the Mito peninsula that has the southernmost point of Shodoshima at its tip.


It is a fairly small, simple, and new structure that has been moved here fairly recently from higher up the slope. It is said that Crown Prince Taisho visited on his trip to the island in the first years of the twentieth century.


The new location is in front of an older cemetery and right next to the village shrine. It is unnamed with no information but the very small shimenawa is of a kind that still has the ears of rice attached to the ends of the straw.


I sit in the little covered rest area next to the Yakushido and drink a can of coffee from the vending machine while I ponder my route. The guide book I am using is written for car pilgrims and says to keep going south down the coast road and then cross over the peninsula at its narrowest part before heading up to the next temple.


Signs from the Yakushi-do point up through the village and I decide to follow them as my experience yesterday suggests that the walking path is quicker than the car route.


I switch back up through the village and take a path leading up the hillside. Once on top the path follows the narrow ridge before starting to descend down the other side.


I pass by a small altar and believe it to be the okunoin of temple 29.


A pair of dolls seem really creepy..... many Japanese I have spoken with seem very superstitious when it comes to old dolls.....


A little further and I come to temple 29 Kazaana-an. There are great views down the coast and across to Shikoku. I believe this is the southernmost point of the pilgrimage.


It is a modern building and well looked after.


I see a couple of young women heading down the stairs. These are the first other visitors to a temple I have seen since starting three days ago.


The honzon is a Jizo, though it, and several other statues, are locked away. A reclining Buddha covered in blankets is in front of the altar.


There is a small Inari shrine. Representations of Inari are either of a young maiden or an old man. This one is the latter.


The previous post in this series on the Shodoshima pilgrimage was on my walk down the peninsula.


As I reach the road below the temple a young pilgrim is parking his bicycle. Our paths will cross several more times today

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Tozenji Temple 74 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Tozenji Temple, number 74 on the Shingon Kyushu pilgrimage, is in Nakazatacho, a rural community north of Sasebo in Nagasaki.


On the previous day's walk I visited temple 66, also called Tozenji, to the east of Sasebo.


The temple was established here in 968, but its origin can be said to lie almost three hundred years earlier in tye very early 8th century when the famous mink Gyoki visited the area and carved a statue of yakushi Nyorai.


That statue was enshrined on top of the mountain in what is now the temples Okunoin and the statue is the honzon of the temple.


I visited very early in the morning and there was no one about so I didn't go inside and see the statue.


The temple grounds are dominated by a huge Camphor tree.


Thought to be 600 years old, this ancient tree has a trunk circumference of 8 meters and is twenty meters high.


The previous post was about the first temple I visited on this, the 67th day of my walk, Korin-in.


Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Jozenji Temple 71 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Jozenji is a small temple in the hills to the east of Sasebo and is the 71st temple on the Shungon Kyushu pilgrimage, said to be the longest of all circuit pilgrimages in Japan.


Like the previous temple I visited a little earlier, Tozenji Temple, it claims to have been founded by Gyoki in the early 8th century.


It is said that Gyoki was traveling through the region promoting the establishment of the famous Todaiji, the first "national" temple in Japan in which he played a part.


While in this area he is said to have carved a statue of Yakushi Nyorai which is the honzon of this temple.


This was a different location, but exactly where is unclear to me because place names have changed so much. There does seem to be a connection with Saikyoji, a big temple on Hirado Island.


Wherever it was, the temple was destroyed during the anti-Buddhist movement in early Meiji and was rebuilt at the current location in 1880.


There was a path leading through the trees to a miniature Kannon pilgrimage.


Though there was no sign of it when I visited in March, the temple is known as a great spot for autumn leaves viewing.


The previous ost in this series was on Turtle Rock at Tozenji.


Friday, November 24, 2023

Ishiteji Temple Part 1

 


Ishite-ji Temple is number 51 on the 88 temple Shikoku Pilgrimage known as Ohenro.


It is located near Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama City and is very popular with non-pilgrims as well as pilgrims.


My dilemma when it came time for this post was in how to choose from the almost 200 photos I took here, and decided to post about half of them but spread over 4 posts to make them manageable.


The temple was said to be founded by Gyoki in 728.


Later Kukai visited and changed it to be a Shingon temple.


At that time it was called Anyo-ji.


The Niomon, dating all the way back to 1318, is a National Treasure.


The honzon of Ishiteji is a Yakushi Nyorai.


The three-storey Pagoda is about the same age as the Niomon, and it is an Important Cultural Property.


Ishite-ji literally means "stone hand temple" and refers to the legend of Emon Saburo.


His story can be found in the post on Monjuin Temple that I had visited earlier in the day.


A small stone with an inscription is viewable in the temple treasure house is said to be the one found in the hand of the new-born baby.


The belfry, 3 photos above, also dates back to the early 14th century, though the bell is said to be a little older.


Many temples are quite, sedate, meditative places, conforming to a certain image of Buddhist temples.


Some, however, are noisy, colourful, and crowded, and Ishiteji is one of this katter kind.


There are numerous smaller halls and shrines scattered around, and an unusually large number of statues and paintings.


Part of the reason I took so many pictures was that the light was great, but also there werejust so many statues, many of which, in the upcoming posts, are most unusual




The previous temple was Hanta-ji Temple, number 50.


Next part click below