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.

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 It will not be published or made public.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.

Otagi Nembutsuji Temple Arashiyama

 

Otagi Nembutsuji Temple is now located in a narrow valley just outside Arashiyama, usually a bit too far for most tourists to walk to.

However, it was originally located on the other side of Kyoto and was only moved here in 1922.

The original temple was founded in 766 and was built in the Higashiyama district, not too far from Gion.

It later became a Shingon temple but was completely destroyed when the Kamo River flooded.

It was restored as a Tendai temple.

It fell into disrepair and was restored several more times.

In 1922 what remained of the temple, mostly its Nio Gate, Main Hall, and Jizo Hall, were relocated to the current site.

During the War it once again became uninhabited.

Its final restoration began in 1955.

In 1980, a ten-year repair and renovation of the Niomon began.

The following year the project that has become the symbol of the temple began. The head priest, a sculptor himself, started teaching visitors how to carve Rakan statues.

Now more than 1200 have been completed and can be seen throughout the temple grounds...

They deserve a couple of posts which will come later...

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.

Majima Island. Westernmost point of the 35th Parallel & Abandoned Benten Shrine

 

Majima Island is an outcropping on the coast between Tsunozu and Waki in Gotsu. It may have been a tiny island at some point, but now it is connected to the land by a sandy hill.

There are a few tiny fishing boats on the beach, but no harbour,

Steps lead up to a first torii with a Jizo statue nearby.

When I first visited Majima it had a Benten shrine on top, but now no maps show a shrine at all, leading me to believe it has been disestablished.

After the first torii sand dunes lead to the path to the "island" itself.

After a narrow ridge connecting to the island some steep steps lead to the top. Erosion has seriously undercut the concrete steps.

A second torii stands near the top, though it has been missing some of its parts  for as long as I have been here.

A pair of ceramic komainu stand guard.

In the last day or so I have come across three different sets of ceramic komainu, all in completely different styles. First there was the pair at Ankoku Temple, then the pair at Kantake Shrine, and now these.

The views from on top are fantastic, looking back down the coast past Tsunozu, Ninomiya, & Uyagawa.

Looking up the coast past Waki, Kakushi, then then "downtown" Gotsu with the huge paper factory at the mouth of the Gonokawa River and then past Asari with the mountains of Iwami Ginzan visible...

A sign on the coast road shows that  Majima id the westernmost point on Honshu of the 35th Parallel .

The 35th Parallel pretty much cuts Hinshu in half and passes from south of Tokyo and then south of Kyoto before leaving Japan at this point.

This is also the spot where local fishermen rescued a couple of hundred Russian sailors from a sinking ship during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. The story can be found in this old post of mine.

The previous post was on three shrines I visited yesterday.

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.