Bukkokusan Temple 41 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

Bukkokusan, temple number 41 on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage, is actually the okunoin of temple 40, Hoanji, and if you are walking then a footpath leads up the mountain from there.

The foot path reaches a small mountain road that leads to the entrance to the temple.

A pair of newish stone Nio guardians flank the road, and either side is lined with stone lanterns. Just before reaching the simple gate a bronze statue of Kobo Daishi, the focus of the 88 temple pilgrimage, looks down on approaching pilgrims. The temple itself is quite small, with just a stylized temple entrance facade to the cave front. A few statues are out in front of the temple which has great views to the south and east.  

One statue stands out as it is not any of the usual Buddhas, but rather a pair of Oni, demons or ogres, the male painted red and the female painted blue. There are two stories relating to the origin of the statue.

  

The first is that in ancient times a demon inhabited this mountain and continuously attacked local people who ventured into the mountains. This is a very common story found all over Japan. The demon was eventually pacified and stopped attacking people when he became a disciple of Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha. Buddhism pacifying demons is also a very common story.

The second legend is set much later in the time that intermarriage between classes was forbidden. This is also a very common story all over, and more often than not ends up with a love suicide. In this local story a pair of young lovers from across the class divide chose to run away together and finding themselves at the cave as night was falling chose to spend the night in the cave whereupon they consummated their relationship. Unable to return home the story is vague about what happened to them although the two stories became linked together and the demon became a kind of protective deity of the mountain and the cave became known as a place to pray for a successful marriage, children, and easy birth.

The interior of the cave is quite magical with many candles, some in niches carved in the rock walls, providing the only illumination.

  

There is a very unusual painted statue of the aforementioned Yakushi Nyorai with distinctly female facial features. This is the honzon, the main deity, of the temple.

  

There are another couple of statues and in the deepest recess of the cave a small stone Fudo Myo in front of which Goma fire rituals are held.

  

Numerous bunches of Senbazuru, the folded paper cranes in multicolors, many of which have become blackened by years of soot.

The cave is about 400 meters above sea level.

It is said Kobo Daishi himself performed rituals inside the cave.

The water that seeps out through the cave walls is collected into small plastic bottles and taken away as healing water.

The views from the temple are amazing.

By road it is a couple of kilometers to the next temple,but just 400 meters on the footpath.

The previous post in this series was temple 40, Hoanji.

Myoo-in Temple 8 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Myo-o-in Temple on the bank of the Ashida River in Fukuyama is home to two National Treasures, the pagoda and the main hall.

Though early records don't exist it is said to have been founded by Kobo Daishi in 807.

The honzon, an 11-faced Kannon is dated to the ninth century so it is certainly possible to be that old.

The temple was originally called Saikozan Richi-in Jofukuji.

The temple was supported by the nearby settlement of Kusado Sengen which grew wealthy through trade and became one of the bigger temples of the region.

The current main hall was built in 1321 and the 5 storey pagoda in 1348.

It is the fifth-oldest pagoda in Japan.

Much of the temple was damaged by a landslide in 1620 and rebuilt by Mizuno Katsunari a few years later.

The third Mizuno Daimyo, Katsutada, merged a nearby small temple, Myoo-in, with it and renamed the temple.

A small Good Luck Daikokuten altar and stone carving.

The torii and steps leading up to the Atago Shrine.

I'm not sure what the kokeshi dolls were doing hung up by the 6 Jizo statues.... but they are not there anymore...

As well as the Pagoda and Main Hall National Treasures, plenty of the other buildings are also quite old. The gate is dted to 1614, and the Shoin is dated to 1621, the bell tower to 1647.

The main hall is classed as "eclectic" as it incorporates architectural features from a range of traditions.

There is a Benzaiten pond and statues of the 6 other "Lucky Gods" nearby.

The previous post was on Kusado Inari Shrine next door.....

Fukushoji Temple 7 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

I made a mistake at Fukushoji. Many sites list it as the 7th temple of the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, however the real 7th temple is Kamo Fudoin, the okunoin of Fukushoji, located about 2k up the mountain.

Fukushoji does have a Fudo statue and altar although it is for "worshipping from afar" for those not willing or able to climb the trail to Fudoin.

The temple is said to have been founded by Kobo Daishi in 828 and was originally called Iwaya-ji. He is said to have carved the Fudo in a single night.

Curiously it is enshrined in "shinto" style, with photos showing a honden type structure behind the main hall. No information on why this is. The temple was quite large in its heyday but suffered under the Chosokabe campaign.

The previous post in this series was temple number 6, Fudoin which I had visited a little earlier in the day.

Yamate Kannondo Temple 52 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Day 2 of our walk along the magnificent Sasaguri Pilgrimage began where it had ended the day before, at Chikuzen-Yamate Station.

Temple 52 is easily noticed by the unusual tall structure. Included at the site is the Watatake Inari Daimyojin Shrine.

Next to it is the tall structure with a tall painting.

The painting is of  a fairly young Kobo Daishi and was the result of an old monk named Mori Jundo who sat by the roadside and begged for donations from passers-by around 1949-1952. 

Like all the other little "temples" on the pilgrimage there is a large, eclectic collection of small statuettes of a range of Buddhas and Kami.

The honzon is an Eleven-faced Kannon, although I believe the one now is a newer relacement of the original stone one which is also on display.

There are also quite a few statues of Fudo Myoo, in fact, as I have mentioned before, I have never encoubtered so many Fudo statues as here in Sasaguri...

The previous post was on the last two temples of day one, both very close to ths one.