Inside Tadaji Temple

 

The honzon of Tada-ji temple in Hamada is an Eleven-faced Kannon, but it is a secret Buddha only visible once a year.

However, there is a Thousand-armed Kannon to be seen...

And to my great delight, several Fudo statues......

However, perhaps the most interesting thing to see are the 59 wooden statues which I have earlier referred to as "drowned Buddhas".

They were discovered floating in the sea below Tada-ji in 1870.

They have been dated to the Kamakura Period, and are about 1,000 years old.

In 1868 the new government unofficially encouraged anti-Buddhist sentiment, and in some areas this led to the destruction of many temples and their treasures.

On the Oki islands for instance, every single temple was destroyed. In other areas nothing was touched.

It seems to have been very much based on situations where local priests were particularly oppressive to the people, rather than any ideological or religious reasons.

The currents along the coast here are from the west, so its seems that the statues drifted from the west over a two year period.

One would think that with such a major collection of statues, and the known currents and time frames it would be possible to figure out where they came from.

Apparently not. The whole anti-Buddhist movement is avoided as a topic, which may explain the reluctance to find out....

After already being very old and probably somewhat deteriorated due to age, plus two years knocked around in water, has led to some eerie expressions on some of the statues.....

If you are visiting Tadaji, it is well worth ringing the bell at the priests house and office and having them open the main hall for you.

This link will take you to a short, earlier post on the drowned Buddhas.

The previous post in this series was on the exterior and grounds of the temple.

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Tada-ji Temple 22 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, Temple 24 Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage

 

I begin day 38 of my Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage walk at Tada-ji Temple on the mountain top overlooking Shimoko. It is temple 22 of the pilgrimage.

It has been 7 days since the last temple of the pilgrimage, the Tamae Kannon-in down in Hagi.

Tada-ji is also the 24th temple of the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage which I have been concurrently walking along since yesterday.

The Nio of Tada-ji are truly impressive....

Each is carved from a single piece of camphorwood. I am unable to find a date but they seem quite recent.

The name Tada is unique among Japanese temples, apparently.

It was founded in 806 by a monk who had travelled to China with Kobo Daishi to study.

He returned two years earlier than Kobo Daishi, and while passing through this area had an experience which caused him to establish a temple here around a tiny statue he brought back from China.

The honzon of the temple is a 11-faced Kannon. It is a secret Buddha revealed once a year at the Hatsuumasai Festival.

That takes place on the Day of the Horse, on the second month of the lunar calendar, the festival day of Dakini Ten, a deity on the head of the Kannon statue.

Dakiniten later became equated with Inari, but was originally a set of female demons/goddesses connected with death.

This is one of the three major festivals of Iwami, and unfortunately, I have yet to attend.

At the small Inari Shrine (was it Dakiniten before Shinbutsununri?) there is a viewpoint looking out at the Japan Sea.

Around the Kobo Daishi statue at the base ( top photo of the post) is a miniature 88 temple pilgrimage about ten meters long.

There are two huge, ancient trees in the grounds, a camphor tree said to be over 1,000 years old, and a Cypress said to be over 1100 years old.

There is a Kumano Shrine in the grounds connected to another experience by Ryusei Shonin, the founder.

Tada-ji is believed to be the oldest extant temple in Hamada.

Perhaps the most intriguing sights at Tadaji are to be found inside the main hall, and that I will cover in the next post in the series...

The previous post was on the walk over from Hamada.

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Hamada River mouth to Shimoko River mouth

 

The Hamada River curves around the hill topped by the ruins of Hamada Castle before entering a narrow inlet with a narrow opening into the Sea of Japan.

The village at the base of the castle facing the sea is Matsubara, and it is well protected by lines and lines of tetrapods...

I guess it needs protecting from high tide surges, but located in a narrow inlet must mean its a bit of an overkill...

The shrine here is an Itsukushima Shrine, which I covered in the previous post in this series...

Below is the opening into the sea...

The inlet heading in the opposite direction is Tonoura, and it was historically a major safe haven for Kitamaebune ships...

I think this is the first seaplane I have seen in Japan...

The Kotohira Shrine located here I also covered in the previous post....

There are only a few houses now, but previously there would have been numerous lodgings for sailors, and also merchant houses that engaged in the lucrative trade....

From the end of the inlet a narrow road heads up over the high ground seperating the Hamada River drainage from the Shimoko River drainage.

It is surprisingly remote, considering downtown Hamada id so close...

There are some nice views of the rocky coastline....

There are several small settlements, but one tiny fishing village stands out....

From here I drop down to the mouth of the Shimoko River..... the next pilgrimage temple is nearby, but I will visit at the start of the next day....

The previous post was on the two shrines in this area....

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.