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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Kando-ji Temple 23 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Kandoji, is a fairly small and nondescript temple in the south of Izumo City. As well as being temple 23 on the Chugoku Kannon pilgrimage, it is also temple number 5 on the much older Izumo Kannon Pilgrimage. The post from my earlier visit is here.

Though now quite modest, it was in ancient times very large and powerful and is said to have had a strong relationship with Izumo Taisha, but I know that in 15th and 16th centuries Gakuenji Temple oversaw Izumo Taisha. It is said that it was the foremost temple in the San-in region.

Said to have been founded in 781 by Socho. Amazingly, it is claimed that Saicho, the founder of Hiezan and the Tendai sect and a contemporary of Kobo Daishi, was the second abbot of the temple, and that Kobo Daishi himself was the third.

Another claim is that Kobo Daishi wrote the Iroha while here and a copy in his handwriting is owned by the temple. The Iroha was a poem for memorizing the kana syllabary that Kobo Daishi is said to have created. It can be thought of as a Japanese version of the Alphabet Song in English. Not too long ago I posted on another temple claiming to be where he wrote the Iroha, Dogakuji Temple in Tokushima. Historians are of the opinion that the Iroha was composed hundreds of years after the time of Kobo Daishi.

The temple converted to the Jodo sect. It has an Amida as its honzon, said to have been carved by Gyoki. The 11-faced Kannon in the Kannon Hall is a secret Buddha.

The previous post in this series on day 40 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the nearby Umaki Fudoson, one of the top 3 Fudo's in Japan.

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Shodoshima Temple 55 & 56, and Into Tonosho

 

After leaving the giant Juniper tree at Hoshoinji, I pass a small Inari shrine on the way to the next little temple. Number 55, Kannon-do.

The way is slightly on the hillside so views of Tonosho and the sea and islands beyond are plentiful.

Kannon-do was a small building and enshrined Bato Kannon, the Horse-head Kannon. It is the only pilgrimage temple to do so.

In earlier times, people would come here to pray for their livestock.

Temple 56 is close by, and slightly higher on the hillside, so the views become wider..

Temple 56, Gyoja-do, has En no Gyoja as its honzon, the only pilgrimage temple here to do so.

It seems that for most pilgrims this is the final temple, the finishing point. Most people arrive in Tonosho, by far the biggest town on the island, and then head clockwise around the island.

I chose to start in the SE of the island and so pretty much followed the traditional numbering system.

Other than a busride from the port on my first day, this was the first time I was seeing Tonosho.

The legendary origin of the Gyojado lies in the huge boulder behind the temple.

According to the legend Kobo Daishi was walking here with a group of pilgrimas and a huge boulder came rolling down the hillside. Everyone panicked but Kobo Daishikept walking and praying and the rock came to an abrupt stop. The pilgrims decided to establish the Gyojado here.

Coming down into Tomosho the vermillion pagoda of Saiko-ji is clearly visible.

The final photo of the post is looking back beyond the last two temples to Tamamitsu Shrine.

The previous post was on the three temples clustered around the ancient Juniper tree.

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Kannonji Temple 69 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Kannonji, temple 69, and Jinneiin, temple 68, both occupy the same site, but I came into the kannonji side first so it gets posted before 68.

The reason I came into Kannonji first was that I visited the original "temple" 68, which was the Hachiman shrine on the hilltop.

From the hilltop is the viewpoint overlooking the Zenigata Sunae, a huge sand sculpture.

The shrine was founded in the very first years of the 8th century by a monk practising austerities on the hill and seeing a vision on the sea and established the Kotohiki Hachiman Shrine.

The temple was founded as the shrines temple and was named Jinguji Hokoin.

Later Gyoki visited, and then later still Kobo Daishi and he painted an Amida Nyorai and made it the honzon of the shrine. He built several halls and statues at the temple and renamed it Kannonji.

When the government forcibly separated the Buddhas & Kami in 1868, the Amida was brought from the Hachimen Shrine and placed in Kannonji. The shrine ceased to be number 68, and the part of Kannonji holding the Amida became temple 68 and as renamed Jinnein.

The honzon of Kannonji, a Kannon, is a secret Buddha, but recently has started to be shown once every ten years.

As well as the main hall, built in 1677, and Daishi Hall, Kannonji also has an Aizen hall, a Heart Sutra Hall, a Kaizan Hall, a Dainichi Hall, and a Kyozuka Hall.

The main hall is an Important Cultural Property, and in the Treasure Hall are two more: a wooden reclining Buddha dating to the Fujiwara Period, and a silk painting of Fudo Myoo

The previous post in the series was Daikoji Temple 67.

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