Jinnein Temple 68 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Jinnein, temple 68 on the Shikoku pilgrimage, is really part of Kannonki, temple 69.

The original 68 was the Kotohiki Hachiman Shrine on top of the hill above the temples.

In 1868, the Amida painting that was in the shrine was moved to the Western Golden Hall of Kannonji, and a little later it was renamed Jinnein and became 68.

The main hall has a curious cube-like concrete box that visitors must pass through. It does not seem out of place...

For details of the history, I suggest the previous post on Kannonji.

The two temples share a garden called Gigien.

The hillside is covered in azaleas, and down below is a deep, stone-lined pond.

At that time I had nor developed my interest in Japanese gardens, so I didn't explore it at all.

It is said to have been designed by the head priest, a son of Ashikaga Takauji. It seems much of the garden was destroyed by a natural disaster in 1976 so the current design may be somewhat different than the original.

As I came into the two temples the "back" way, from above, I left via the entrance which has the Niomon.

The previous post was on Kannonji, temple 69, occupying the same grounds as Jinnein.

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Tanoura Higyokudo Temple 30 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Higyokudo in the Tanoura area of the Sasaguri Pilgrimage is yet another of the tiny, unmanned "temples", but a little different...

Until 1996 there was a pilgrims lodgings here and so there are the remains of a small garden...

As usual, and to my continued delight, there were numerous Fudo's....

The honzon is an Amida, though because there was dispute on Shikoku with two different temples claiming to be the 30th for a while, the temple here has enshrined  Amidas from both of the Shikoku temples...

Also I've noticed that many of these smaller, unmanned sites have an older, smaller stone honzon on the altar next to a newer, gold-plated one.

Many of these small temples did not exist before the establishment of the Sasaguri Pilgrimage, so most of the new temples were simples a small stone honzon in a tiny structure.

Over the years the local people enlarged the little temples building bigger structures, erecting new, more expensive honzons, and adding more and more statues....

This pilgrimage, like the one on Shodoshima, shows a remarkable religious system not maintained by any powerful organizations, but simple by local communities....

The previous post was on the glorious forests of giant bamboo the pligrim trail passed through earlier this day.

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Manju-ji Temple Gardens

 

Manju-ji Temple in Matsue has a delightful pond garden behind the main hall, and an extensive, well-manicured karesansui garden in the front.

It is a large Rinzai Zen temple at the top of the narrow Okutani valley to the north of the castle.

Entry to the temple and garden is free, but the temple remains off the tourist radar.

The temple was established in a different location in 1600, some years before the castle was built.

Its original name was Chojuin.

In 1644 it was moved to its current location after being given the site by Naomasa Matsudaira, the new daimyo of the castle.

At that time it was renamed Shobuyama Chojuji.

Later the name was changed to Manju-ji, though a big fire in 1848 destroyed all records, so the date is unknown.

When I visited in June, the azaleas were in bloom, which added to the visit.

One curious feature, seen in photo 4, is an Imperial Messenger Gate in front of the main hall.

To the right of the main hall is a Kannon Hall, and above it is a Myoken Shrine which enshrines Marishiten, Benzaiten, Daikokuten, and Aizen Myoo. From the shrine you can look down on the pond garden.

The front garden is quite sparse, but subtle.

One nice touch was the small turtle at the centre of the concentric circle of ridges.... exactly how it would appear when a turtle surfaces in a pond.

I can find no date or creator for the rear garden, but it appears to be fairly standard.

There is a small one-room teahouse.

And a few koi in the pond.

The previous post in this series on Matsue and Izumo was on Kanden-an, the remarkable samurai teahouse, villa, and gardens not too far from Monjuji Temple.

Matsue has an unusually large number of quality gardens, in large part due to the legacy of the great Tea Master, Fumai Matsudaira, the daimyo of Matsue Castle.

Some recent garden posts from Matsue I recommend would be Fumon-in temple, garden and Teahouse, the gardens at Lafcadio Heans House, and the garden at Gesshoji Temple.

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