Torin-an & Yuku-an Temples 49 & 50 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

December 28th, 2015, and I begin day 5 of my walk along the Shodoshima Pilgrimage with a couple of small hermitages close to each other.

Both are located to the NE of Tonosho, the biggest town and main port of the island. Most pilgrims start in Tonosho and go around the island clockwise. I, however, started in the SE of the island and roughly started at temple 1 and went clockwise, so I am approaching Tonosho for the first time.

I ended up taking 8 days to do the pilgrimage, and as this is thye start of day 5 I have technically passed the halfway point.

Number 49, Torin-an, was in the past a fully-fledged temple called Manganji, but now is downgraded to a hermitage. It's primary statue is a wooden Jizo. As with all these tiny, community supported establishments, there was a well kept undercover seating area for pilgrims.

Very close by in number 50, Yuku-an, with a large lotus pond in front, though at this time of the year no sign of the lotus plants.

Yuku-an is a little more substantial than Torin-an. Its main statues is a Yakushi Nyorai, though it has several other statues inside and a large stone Jizo outside...

The Jizo is probably a Kosodate Jizo.

Flanking the Nyorai, which is a "hidden Buddha", is a statue of En no Gyoja, photo 11, the legendary founder of Shugendo.

With so many mountain cave temples on the pilgrimage, this points to its origins with shugenja and yamabushi.

The final photo shows the remains of last year's lotus plants....

The previous post in this series was on the final two temples of yesterday, Tamonji and Enmanji

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Ryuzoji Temple 17 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage Part Two

 

This is the second part of my post on Ryuzoji Temple in Yamaguchi City. The previous post can be read here.

Above the main buildings is this large Blue Fudo Myoo and attendants

Behind it are the Tsuzumi waterfalls, according to the legend discovered by En no Gyoja, which led to the establishment of the temple.

The falls are 37 meters high, with three tiers of 18, 3, and 16 meters.

The falls were used by yamabushi for training.

The ten-metre high Fudo statue was, I think, created in 1989 as part of a collection of Fudo Myoo's around Yamaguchi, of which it is the12th.

See the previous post for more of the history of the temple.

I visited on November 25th. 2014, day 23 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The trail leads up to a small cave which is the okunoin of the temple, but I did not venture that far.

En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of Shugendo and the discoverer of the falls and cave.

I believe these two little demons are the one that En no Gyoja "tamed" to do his bidding.

I then headed in to the temples small Treasure House....

The previous post was on the approach to the temple and the main buildings. with a National Monument Gingko tree and a quite rare statue of Kannon.

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Ryuzoji Temple 17 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Ryuzoji Temple, the oldest temple in Yamaguchi City, is the 17th temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and is a little out of town and not easily accessible by public transport so remains somewhat unkown to visitors.

I was totslly blown away by the phenomenal colours of the maple and gingko together...

At the bottom of the steps leading up is the remains of a small garden attributed to Sesshu. It was in poor condition when I was there but I believe it has been somewhat renovated now.

This is another of the temples where I took so many photos that I will break it down into two posts.

The origins of the temple lie in 698 when En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of shugendo, was returning from Hikosan in north Kyushu and discovered the cave on the mountainside that is now the okunoin.

Later, in 741, Gyoki came here, carved a Thousand-armed Kannon and established 7 halls

During the Edo Period ii seems it was a fairly large temple complex.

However, with the anti-Buddhist movements of early Meiji the temple was partially destroyed and abandoned.

In the last years of the 19th century it was revived as a place of worship.

The temple was packed with things to see,... not least the colours of Autumn, mostly on the ground...

Above is the Basho Jizo. I can find no info on this version of Jizo, so it must be one of the lesser ones...

The giant Gingko tree had shed just about all its leaves. It is about 45 meters tall and with a circumference of 12 meters at its base. Its diameters above the ground is 6 meters.

It is estimated to about  550 years old . Of all the nationally registered gingko tree this one is the second tallest and oldest.

At the top of the stairs, the first building is the Kannon Hall.

The main hall houses the honzon, and Amida. This is a Shingon temple...

The Kannon is a Bato Kannon, a Horsehead Kannon, and I was very surprised because I would have said it was an Aizen Myoo statue...

Just when you think you have gotten a handle on the identities and multiple appearances of the Buddhist deities, you come across something that blows it all up,,,

The Gingko tree at Ryuzoji Temple is a National Natural Monument.

It seems Bato Kannon can be an "angry" manifestation of Kannon, and "he" is included in the Hachidai Myoo grouping.

May be a Ryuzu Kannon, though usually she is depicted on a dragon, not with a dragon on her head...

In the next post I will cover the large Fudo Myoo, the waterfall, and numerous other sights above and behind the main hall.

The previous post in this series on day 23 walking along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, was on Rurikoji Temple and its pagoda,  a few kilometers further north.

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 most recent posts