Jorinji Temple & an Explanation

 

Jorinji Temple is a very small temple just a few hundred meters from Shotokuji Temple in Sufu. Jorinji is one of the "extra" temples on the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage.

Kannon pilgrimages usually have 33 main temples and 3 or so "extra" temples. The Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage has 33 main temples, but about 17 "extra" temples. I think I have figured out why.

I have seen a map of the original Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage, and a lot of the temples, especially in the western part of the pilgrimage, simply no longer exist, and I wondered how they came up with the current pilgrimage. During the Edo Period Iwami was split into two, with the Gonokawa River being the dividing line.

East of the Gonokawa was Iwami Ginzan, with all the land controlled directly by the Shogunate. West of the river was the Hamada Domain. Because of the wealth of the silver mine, travel into the area was severely curtailed, so pilgrims could no longer do the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage. Both Hamada Domain and Iwami Ginzan set up there own 33 temple Kannon pilgrimages, so Iwami ended up with about 70 different Kannon pilgrimage temples.

After Meiji, when the domains were abolished and Shimane was created, was when many temples disappeared, so I think the reason the contemporary Iwami kannon Pilgrimage has about 50 temples is because they used a combination of the what was left of the two Edo period pilgrimages. This is why it is called the Iwami Mandala Kannon Pilgrimage.

I visited on day 35 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage which was also day 16 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage. The Iwami Pilgrimage started in Oda and then went inland and followed the mountains all the way down to Tsuwano when it then heads to the coast at Masuda before heading up the coast to finish close to the starting point.

When I arrived in the Sufu area on day 35 of the Chugoku Pilgrimage, I had also gotten to about the same point walking the Iwami Pilgrimage. As the Chugoku Pilgrimage only has one temple in Iwami, rather than hurry on through, I decided to make small detours so I could finish off the Iwami pilgrimage at the same time.

So for the next 3 or so days of the Chugoku Pilgrimage I will be visiting many of the Iwami Pilgrimage temples.

Clear as mud, right?

The previous post was on nearby Shotokuji Temple.

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