Art of Tanjoji Temple

Japan Guide

Temples are, like churches and cathedrals in the West, repositories of art. One of the delights of visiting them is to explore and find interesting statues, carvings etc. Tanjoji Temple in Okayama was pretty good in this regard, with quite a range of things to see. The statue above is an Amida Buddha, the focus of the school of Buddhism founded by Honen who was born on this spot.

I visited the temple while walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and ths is the Kannon statue. It was carved by Jigaku Daishi and enshrined in 1631. It is now called the Oshichi Kannon after Oshichi, a 16 year old girl executed for arson after a major fire in Edo. The subject of many books and play, Oshichi's story can be found here at Gabi Greve's wonderful site....

Onigawara are "demon tiles" found on the roofs of some temples and other buildings. In situ they are hard to see as they are up on the roof, but often you will find older versions from previous versions of the buildings are ondislay, like here. Intriguing is the diversity of designs.

One of the most ubiquitous sights all over Japan are small statues of Jizo with their trademark caps and bibs.

Above the entrance to many temple and shrine buildings can be found relief carvings of dragons. Usually of a quite standard design, this one is somewhat more expressive....

Sometimes..... when I'm lucky,.... powerful compositions simply present themselves to me....

This is said to be the largest Buddha statue in Okayama, and is a Nationally-registered Important Cultural ropert, but have no details on it.

Long time readers of this blog know that I am quite obsessed with Fudo Myo, and this single example at Tanjoji was in the Kannon Hall.

These are , I suspext, statues of rakan, disciples of the Buddha, also in the Kannn Hall.

Green Tea

Shorenji Amida-do

Heading down the Kuma River it was not too long before I cam upon another thatched temple. This one was the Amida-do of Shorenji temple.

It was built in 1295 by Yorimune Sagara to memorialize his great  grandfather, Yorikage, who came here from the capital to take over the surrounding lands. The Sagara family controlled this area continuously for almost 700 years until 1867, an unusual situation in the volatile political scene of historical Japan.

The current building is about 570 years old. Inside are some statues that I believe date back to the Kamakura Period. Being an Amida Hall the central place is for a standing Amida.

I am almost certain this is a Jizo. The upper reaches of the Kuma River is an intriguing place and I plan to return there and do a lot more exploring. In fact this leg of my pilgrimage, following the Sendai River upstream and then crossing over to go down the Kuma River was one of the most enjoyable legs of the whole pilgrimage.

Treasures of Makiodo

The Treasure Hall at Makiodo Temple in the Hunisaki area.

Makiodo was built on the site of Makisan Denjo-ji, a large temple in the Kunisaki Peninsula area of Oita. The temple burned down in the early 14th Century but some of the statues were saved and are on display now at Makiodo.

Amida Nyorai flanked by the 4 Shitenno

Makisan Denjoji was reputed to be the biggest of the Tendai temples in the Kunisaki area that was home to a Tendai version of Shugendo. I visited it on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage. The first group of temples on the pilgrimage are located in the Kunisaki area and as I had been long wanting to walk the old Kunisaki Pilgrimage I used this opportunity. The Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail approximately follows the old pilgrimage route.

Rare Statue of Daitoku Myo at Makiodo

All the statues on display in the Treasure House are obviously more than 700 years old and include a seated Amida Buddha with the four Shitenno, Heavenly Guardians, flanking it. What is believed to be the biggest example of A Daitoku Myo in Japan, seated astride an ox, and a wonderful Fudo Myo with his two attendants.

Fudo Myo at Makiodo in Kunisaki

In a separate building are other artworks and a pair of Nio guardians. Makiodo is located less than 3 kilometers north from the Kumano Magaibutsu, and like many of the really interesting places in Japan , not really served by public transport.

Ancient Nio statue on display at Makiodo

Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 37 Iwamotoji

Iwamotoji is the 37th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, and is reached, by foot at least, by quite long passage over the mountains. Fall colors were on full display when I arrived on my 20th day of walking.

Just to the NE of the temple is a shrine, and according to legend it was founded by Gyoki. Later Kobo Daishi came here and distributed 5 statues around various sites in the area. Many of these sites must have been shrines but when Shinbutsubunri, the separation of buddhas and kami, was implemented all five were collected here.

Usually a temple will have a single honzon, a main deity enshrined, but here there are five, Fudo Myoo, Kannon, Jizo, Amida, and Yakushi. The temple belongs to the Shingon sect.

Yeat another of the temples burnt down by the warlord Chosokabe, the current main hall was built in 1978. The ceiling is composed of more than 500 small, square paintings collected from all over Japan. The designs are not limted to Buddhist or religious themes.

Bone Buddhas

When I first heard about Bone Buddhas, Okutsu Butsu, I imagined statues made out of whole bones, shins, ribs etc but that is not what they are. They are made out of crushed bones. The first is believed to be from the early 18th Century and was made by mixing crushed bones with clay, but the most famous ones are at Isshinji Temple in Osaka and are made by casting a mixture of crushed bone and resin.

Since the late 19th Century, when the temple began to run out of space to store the cremains , they have made a dozen statues of Amida, but six were destroyed during the war. The ashes of about 150,000 went into each one.

The head priest at Isshinji is also an architect, and he designed the very unusual main gate into the temple.

The temple is located near Tennoji Park, and not visited much by tourists, but the place is usually very busy.

Sugao Stone Buddhas

Sugao, on the banks of the Ono River a little downstream from Bungo Ono is home to a small set of relief carved Buddhist statues. There are 4 large figures and a smaller one. On the far left is a Thousand Armed Kannon.

Next to it is a Yakushi Nyorai. The figures are between 180 and 190 cms in height and were believed to have been carved towards the end of the Heian Period, so are roughly a thousand years old.

On the far right is an 11 Faced Kannon, and to its left is an Amida. They are now well protected against the ravages of the weather but the stone is fairly soft so have lost some of their detail to time.

On the far right is a Bishamonten, much smaller than the 4 main figures.

The most well preserved seems to be the central Amida. The pigments are still very clear, though they must have been magnificent when first made.

Shodoshima Pilgrimage Temple 6 Tanoura-an

Early morning on my first day walking the Shodoshima Pilgrimage  and I came down out of the bamboo forest into the upper part of the little, but famous, fishing village of Tanoura.

Tanoura-an is the small buddhist temple for the village, but it is also the shrine. They are quite clear that they didn't separate the two when ordred to by the government in the late 19th Century.

Obviously there was once a huge tree here :). The main deity of the temple is Amida.

In its own little case was a Jizo statue that attracts people from further away than the village as it has a reputation for removing warts.

The Diverse Statuary at Jingo-ji

Jingo-ji Temple was a very pleasant surprise. Number 21 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, it is/was a Shugendo center based around 2 small waterfalls. There was a lot of statuary, and while I am no expert, I have gotten better at identifying the myraid deities that inhabit the spiritual sphere of Japan. This first one, riding a peacock, is I think Amida, though I am not 100% certain.

This is Enma, the head judge of Hell, sometimes known as the King of Hell.

In premodern times the deity Inari took many forms, but a common one was as an old man accompanied by a fox or foxes.

I believe this is a pair of Jizo.

Statues of the reclining Buddha are relatively rare in japan compared to other Buddhist countries. This one is about 9 meters in length and carved in situ.

Almost certainly this is Kannon.

Zenkakuji Temple 30 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Located north of Kochi City, Zenrakuji was not temple number 30 for almost 100 years. It was/is located right next to a big shrine, now called Tosa Jinja, and when Shinto and Buddhism were seperated the temple was damaged. The honzon, Amida Nyorai, was moved to Anrakuji which then became temple 30.

In 1929 Zenrakuji was re-established but no buildings were erected until 1938, however Anrakuji refused to return the honzon. Later Zenrakuji changed to the same sect as Anrakuji with the same priest presiding over both, but Anrakuji stayed as temple 30. At some point in the 1970's the honzon moved back to Zenrakuji and it once again became temple 30.

The original temple  is credited to Kobo Daishi but it was built under orders of Emperor Shomu and re-established by Kobo Daishi.

The current temple is made of concrete and is architecturally not interesting. Neighboring Tosa Shrine however does have a lot of nice, traditional architecture.