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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Saidoji Rokkakudo

 

Seemingly floating in Esaki Bay, Saidoji Temple has a distinctive hexagonal hall.

The origin dates back to the early part of the 15th Century and a wealthy family by the name of Nabeyama who had an ony daughter named Okiku. They had hoped to marry her off but she fell in love with a servant named Shichigoro.

When she became pregnant by him, her parents drove him away, and in her sorrow, she threw herself into the sea.

Her parents searched for her for three days and three nights, to no avail, however they did pull up in a et from the sea a Jizo statue holding a child. They took this to be a reincarnation of their daughter and enshrined it on the tiny island.

Seven years later, Shichigoro returned in the guise of a monk and converted the shrine into a temple.

In the 17th Century when the Mori had control of the area they rebuilt the temple with a hexagonal hall. This was to protect the building against the powerful stormy winds. At the same time, they planted a Black Pine, which still grows today.

I have seen other hexagonal buildings in temples around Japan, but the signboard here claims that this one os one of only two in existence, so I suspect they are talking about some aspect of its construction.

The dragon carving was quite nice....

A Boke Fuji Kannon for protection against senility..... an increasingly common Kannon statue in Japan....

The previous post was on the walk to Esaki from Susa.

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Tsubaki-do Bangai Temple 14 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Jofukuji Temple, commonly called Tsubaki-do, is the 14th of the 20 extra temples on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. It is one of the ones commonly visited by pilgrims as it is located right on the main pilgrimage route and does not involve a detour.

It was established in 807 as a small hermitage enshrining a Jizo statue.

In 815 Kobo Daishi visited while the local people were suffering from influenza. He planted his walking stick into the grounds and prayed so that the sickness left the people and transferred into the stick.

Later a camellia, tsubaki in Japanese,  grew from the stick, and so the name of the hermitage became Tsubaki-do

The hermitage burned down in 1859, and the current camellia is said to have grown from the burned stump.

The red Fudo Myoo was known as  a fire prevention Fudo, but has been changed to a Non-Nuclear Fudo.

It has received a fresh coat of paint since I visited, as has the unusual gate.

I was lucky as I visited in mid-February, so the camellias were blooming

The previous post in this series was Sankakuji Temple 65.

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Along the Sanyo-do

 

26th November, 2014, and I set off before sunrise on day 24 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

I stayed the night near Shin Yamaguchi Station, formerly known as Ogori. My route is SW towards the next temple near Ube.

Instead of taking the main road I take the old Sanyo-do, the imperial highway from ancient times that ran from Yamato down to Shimonoseki along the southern coast of Honshu. This roughly corresponds to todays National Highway 2

Looking back to the built-up area around Ogori.

The old road retains some of its historical charm with plenty of examples of older-style architecture...

There are numerous roadside Buddhist altars...

As is usual for me, I stop in at most of the shrines that I pass. I will cover some of them in the next post...

The only Autumn Colour I encountered was at one shrine....

At times, my route parallels the Shinkansen Line.

It is most pleasant to be away from all the traffic and commercial establishments on the newer Route 2  not far away.

From one shrine that is on higher ground, I catch a glimpse of the Inland Sea...

Economically, the Sanyo region is doing really well compared to my region, the San-in, but there are still some empty and decaying houses, though a tiny number compared to my area.

A heron proved not so skittish...

After passing Hon Yura  Station I pass a newly rebuilt Buddhist "chapel", Mikage-do, part of Bodaiji Temple.

The previous post was on the last temple I visited yesterday, the amazing Ryuzoji.

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