Konjiji Temple 12 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Konjiji, temple number 12 on the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, is a mountaintop temple with a strong Shugendo past.

It is also the okunoin of Dainichiji, the 13th temple on the famous Shikoku 88 Pilgrimage.

Like so many mountain temples associated with Shugendo, Konjiji is said to have been founded by the legendary En no Gyoja in the 7th Century.

More than a century later, Kobo Daishi visited and practised austerities and had a vision of Kongo Zao Gongen and so carved an image of him and placed it in a cave.

Each of the 36 temples on this Fudo pilgrimage has a statue of one of the 36 young acolytes called Doji. The one here is called Harahara Doji.

Susuharae is an old traditional ritual of sweeping away soot, dust, cobwebs etc from under the eaves of shrines and temples  for the new year using a takesao, a long bamboo with straw or leaf "brush" at the end. A short video of it being done ceremonially at Dazaifu Tenmangu in this old post.

The temple fell into disuse but was revived at the end of the 16th century by Hachisuka Iemasu, the Daimyo of Awa Domain. He took the Zao Gongen statue and enshrined it within the castle town but strange things happened so he made a copy and placed the copy back at Konjiji. Strange things continued to happen so he realized the statue need to be returned which is why there are two statues now.

The temple sits at an elevation of 310 meters, and has superb views down on Tokushima and the Yoshino River. I will post more of the views in the next post in the series.

About 500 meters from the main temple is a waterfall used for ascetic training. I suspect that the ladder I passed on the trail up the mountain was one way to get to the falls.

I believe the masks pictured below were carved by a famous Noh mask carver from Shiga.

The first two masks are Tengu, but the third is a Noh mask representation of Fudo Myoo

The previous post was on the way up the mountain to the temple.

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Ryuzenji Temple 107 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Ryuzenji Temple is located in an urban area of Itoshima, the area to the southwest of Fukuoka City that was very powerful politically in prehistoric Japan.

It is a fairly recent temple being founded in the late 1950's, though I can find no information other than that.

The honzon is a Shogun Jizo which seems to be a medieval Japanese version of the bodhisatvva.

It has a strong connection to Mount Atago near Kyoto and is often depicted riding a boar. Perhaps the most well-known one is the one carved by Kobo Daishi himself, the honzon of temple 5 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Jizoji Temple.

The new stone Nio guarding the driveway are of the now common style. Im guessing cut from the same data by computer as the other identical copies.

There are several statues around the grounds including a set of six Jizo and the almost obligatory standing Kobo Daishi.

There were a couple of Fudo statues, always nice to see.

As well there is a small rocky area with a water source for ascetic purification under cold water.

Such sites are normally found in the mountains with real waterfalls and are especially connected to yamabushi and Shugendo..

A statue of Fudo and also Kurikara, his sword wrapped with a dragon, are commonly found at such places.

This was my first stop on day 75 of my 77 day walk around Kyushu on the Shingon Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage. The previous temple was Shinkoin, temple 106.

Fudo Myo at Kannonji Temple

 

Waraji, traditional straw sandals, are left as offerings to s statue of Fudo Myoo at Kanniji Temple on the Sasaguri pilgrimage in Fukuoka. They are left as prayers for health feet and for safety on journeys.

Kurikara, the sword held by Fudo Myoo, is often represented with a dragon wrapped around it.

The Fudo Myo statues found at Kannonji were all quite small, and carved, quite crudely, in stone.

The previous post in the series is Nomiyama Kannonji Temple.

Fudo Myoo at Iwaya-ji Temple

 

Last post I showed you inside the cave below the main hall of Iwaya-ji Temple, the mountain temple that is number 45 on the Shikoku pilgrimage. Along with a Jizo and a Kobo Daishi, Fudo is the main statue there.

After starting up the steep trail from the road you pass  a bronze statue of Fudo along with his 36 acolytes.

Iwayaji was a yamabushi site and often at such ascetic sites there will be Fudo statues.

Behind the Kokuzodo near the top of the trail is a small cave with a Benzaiten statue and also this large stone Fudo.

According to the legend, Kobo Daishi carved two statues of Fudo Myo here, both "hidden", one in the main hall and the other u at the okunoin.

However, there are quite a few small carvings of Fudo scattered around, many having been left by worshippers in the past.

As any regular readers of my blog will know, I have posted hundreds and hundreds of photos of Fudo Myo, which posts you can easily access by clicking on the Fudo Myojin tag below......

The most detailed post I have done about Fudo is this one from the Sasaguri pilgrimage....

This final photo is of a statue of  Kurikara, the sword of Fudo which exists as a manifestation of Fudo but also as a separate deity.....

More Fudo Myo at Nanzoin

Kurikara, the sword of Fudo Myoo, is often represented with a dragon wrapped around it. Occasionally Fudo himself is given a dragon head, like here at Nanzoin.

There were lots of Fudo statues at Nanzoin, as there were at the other temples nearby in the Wakasugi Mountain area. Like the other temples there was a waterfall surrounded by Fudo statues used for ascetic purification practises.

There was also a fudo altar within a cave, something else that is not unusual for Fudo altars.

As well as the numerous Fudo statues, and the largest bronze reclining Buddha, Nanzoin had a lot of other features which I will post next....

The Okunoin on Mount Wakasugi

The Okunoin on Mount Wakasugi is in a cave just below the summit. It is here that Kukai, later known as Kobo daishi, practised austerities on his return from China.

Considering its remote location, a surprising number of people make the climb, though I suspect most have parked their cars at the Kannon-do just below.

there were many statues around the area including a Fudo Myo (it was Kukai who introduced this deity into Japan) and a Kurikara, the dragon sword of Fudo.

The Okunoin is on the south side of the peak and so all the snow had melted, but just above there was still snow...