Sasaguri Pilgrimage Temples 22 Kirinokidani Yakushi-do, 2 Matsugase Amida-do, & 56 Matsugase Jizo-do

 

Temple 22, Kirinokidani Yakushi-do is in the same area as the last couple of temples, an Amida-do and a Dainichi-do.

Like most temples on the pilgrimage, it is small, unmanned, and packed with statues.

It was located at the base of the mountain but moved up here several generations ago by the current caretakers grandfather.

Not sure what the dragon statue is about, nor the "ascetic master" statue.

The main hall has the new, golden honzon as well as the origanl small, stone honzon. This seems to be the case with many of the temples, indicating to me that originally many of the temples when the pilgrimage was originally established were just simple roadside altars with a stone statue. Over the years since the local people have gradually built up each site with buildings and many, many statues.

Kirinokidani Yakushi-do was at the top of the mountain, and the next temple was way down at the base.

Matsugase Amida-do is temple number 2,  just across the river from the first temple, the huge Nanzoin.

For me, it was nice to once again come across numerous Fudo statues...

Among the statues in the main hall, the most interesting was a kami statue... Awashima Daimyojin, on the far right of the photo below, and the subject of the 3rd photo below.

It was believed to be effective against women's diseases, especially sexually transmitted ones.

Women from the geisha district of Hakata would make the journey out to the temple....

The final temple of the day for me was the Matsugase Jizo-do. This was the end of the second day, and like the first day was filled with so much......Anyone visiting the area should explore this wonderful pilgrimage, and get away from the obvious attraction of Nanzo-in, which I will be visiting tomorrow.

It was very close to the previous temple and was relocated here in 2011; I suspect because of road-widening work on the main highway.

Outside is a small 6 Jizo hall, and inside the main hall are ten Jizo statues, including the honzon.

Another small snake statue fashioned out of a twisty tree root. No idea what the Kewpie dolls are about; photo below and the top photo of the post.

The previous post in this series covered two pilgrimage temples plus a non-pilgrimage temple filled with dolls.

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Ichibata Yakushi Temple 26 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

I head inland from the coast of the Shimane Peninsula and reach Ichibata Yakushi Temple, number 26 on the pilgrimage.

From the car park and main entrance a road is lined with 108 stone lanterns.

At this level are several large halls, including the Hodo and the Honboshoin.

The temple was founded in 894 and the honzon is a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, known as the Medicine Buddha.

A fisherman "caught" the statue in the sea while fishing and took it home with him. After praying to it his mothers eyesight improved and he became a monk.

Several weathered Fudo Myoo stand at the start of a short flight of steps that leads up to the Niomon.

The temple is renowned for the healing of eye problems and is in a sense the Lourdes of Japan for eye ailments.

The temple was originally a Tendai sect temple, but in 1327 converted to Rinzai Zen and changed names to Setokuji.

Unusually, the Nio have lines of small statues of Enma and the other "judges of hell".

In 1653 it was renamed Ichibata-ji.

In 1790 it switched schools within Rinzai to the Myoshinji School.

In 1953, it became the head of its own school and now has 50 branch temples across Japan.

There is a nice set of full-size Rakan statues in front of the main hall, and other sights of interest..

Most of the architecture dates to the 19th and early 20th centuries...

There are some fantastic views looking down on Lake Shinji...

The last 2 photos are of some Fudo statues at the bottom of the stairs. There are 640 steps in all, but many are actually only a few cms high so its not a bad climb.

The railway line that stops at the bottom of the valley near Lake Shinji is called the Ichibata Railway and was built to bring pilgrims from Matsue and Izumo.

An irregular small, local bus runs up to the temple's car park.

For me, the most intriguing sight at the temple is the 84,000 Yakushi statues....... that will be the next post...

The previous post was on nearby Koizu Port and its two shrines.

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Umaki Fudoson

 

Coming into Izumo along the Kando River after visiting Zenjoji Temple, I was struck by a vermilion gate and had to explore.

It is Komyoji Temple, but more commonly known as Umaki Fudoson, and is home to one of the top three Fudo's in Japan.

Of course, that may be like the top 3 Inari shrines, where the first two are well established, and the third varies depending on the region, but I was surprised not to have heard of it.

One theory holds that the temple was established in ancient times and was among those mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki.

In medieval times, it was a Shingon temple, then converted to Zen, and in 1631 became a Nichiren sect temple.

At the site of the old Fudo Hall stands the Water-Pouring Fudo. Though only dating to 1976, the decades of water poured over it have made the moss grow thick...

The main Fudo statue in the new Fudo Hall is said to have been carved by Gyoki.

It is 157 cms tall and is carved out of a single piece of wood...

The previous post in this series on day 40 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the mountain temple  Zenjoji, the 24th temple of the pilgrimage

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