Rendaiji Temple 6 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Rendaiji, the 6th temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, is a large complex located high on Mount Yuga in the Kojima area south of Kurashiki and Okayama.

It was a syncretic site known as Yuga Daigongen until modern times but has now split into Rendaiji Temple nd Yuga Shrine, though they both occupy the same site.

In the Heian Period it was one of three sites that were called New Kumano, this site being the equivalent of Nachi Taisha.

Long a site of pilgrimage, the approach to the shrine-temple complex has a temple town with long street lined with souvenir shops.

I arrived by following the old pilgrimage trail from the north and the first things I saw were the statues of the Seven Lucky Gods. The tradition here is that you write your prayer or wish on a white stone and leave on the statue.

Also in this area was a newish Fudo statue, but much more of Fudo is to come......

In one hall is this striking statue of Dakiniten, a Buddhist  goddess with Hindi roots that has become synonomous with Inari in Japan. Two great Dakiniten temples are commonly known as Inari, Toyokawa Inari in Aichi, and Saijo Inari near here in Okayama.

Dakiniten is often associated with foxes and sometimes depicted riding a white fox. The association with foxes seems to be behind much of the association of Dakiniten with Inari.

In this part of the temple is also this magnificent statue of Fudo Myoo, the biggest wooden Fudo in all of Japan, and possibly the world.

It was unveiled in 2007 and is about 7.5 meters tall. You can see more on this earlier post.

Rendaiji was siad to have been founded by the famed monk Gyoki in 733. He enshrined a Kannon and Yuga Daigongen.

In the late Heian Period the complex was destroyed by fire.

It was rebuilt in the Muromachi Period, but really grew in stature during the Edo Period when it became a major pilgrimage destination.

Yoga Daigongen was a deity that offered protection against misfortune, and it became paired with the Konpira Daigongen across on Shikoku. A pilgrimage to both sites became very popular.

The Guest Hall, or, Reception Hall dates back to the very end of the 18th century.

It boasts an impressive collection of painted screens by some well known artists and also offers views of the garden

It is free to enter and I am disappointed I did not.

In many placdes where a temple and shrine were seperated, they now sit adjacent to each other, but here thye shrine part is in the middle of the Buddhist part. After passing through the shrine you come to the second area of the temple and here is the Kannon Hall, pictured in photo 1 above, and also the Daishi Hall below. I will cover the shrine, with its unusual ceramic torii, in the next post in the series.

Also on this side of the complex is an area devoted to Mizuko Jizo.

Also in this part of the complex is the pagoda. In Tahoto style associated with Shingon.

The original pagoda collapsed during a storm in 1670, and was rebuilt during the 1830's and 40's. It is said to be the biggest pagoda in Okayama.

Officially seperated in 1868, the shrine and temple began again to operate as one entity after 1945, however in the lat 1990's a duispute arose between the shrine and temple that continues to this day.

The head priest of the temple and the head priest of the shrine are brothers, which may explain the dispute somewhat.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the old  pilgrimage trail leading to Rendaiji.

Goryu Sonryuin Temple

 

Heading south towards Rendaiji Temple and Yuga Shrine I was surprised by this big torii and major approach to what was called Kumano Shrine, however the right hand side of the approach was filled with a variety of temple buildings that stretched about 400 meters.

There was an area with many Mizuko Jizo, very much a postwar thing, but apparently there were originally five temples here.

It was very much a shugendo site that included the Kumano Shrine and of the five, Sonyuin seems to have been the main temple.

According to the story, when En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of Shugendo, was exiled to Izu by the government, 5 of his disciples wandered around various areas carrying the divided spirits of the Kumano Sanzan shrines and in 701 after divine revelations set up the shrine here.

Each of the five founded a temple but Sonryuin became the main temple. Later in the 8th century the emperor gave all the land in the surrounding district to the shrine complex and around this time Yuga Shrine and Rendaiji Temple to the south were established so the area became a "new" Kumano Sanzan.

Fortunes deteriorated after the Heian Period but one of the sons of Emperor Gotoba, who had been exiled to the Oki Islands, was exiled here and revived the temples until they again fell into disrepair in the 14th century, all except Sonryuin.

In the 15th century during the Onin War the whole shrine temple complex was almost completely destroyed but revived during the Edo Period.

The three-storey pagoda was built in 1820 and now is within the grounds of the Kumano Shrine.

In 1868 when the Buddhas and Kami were separated the shrine and temple separated, and a few years later when Shugendo was outlawed the temple joined the Tendai sect. In 1945 it once again reverted to Shugendo, with a connection to Tendai Shugendo.

The previous post was on the Susanoo Shrine  few kilometers north.

Fudoin Temple 6 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Friday, December 23rd, 2016, the start of day 5 of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

The first 4 days I had walked up the Yoshino River in Tokushima along the north bank, and now I was heading back downriver along the south bank.

First stop was Temple 6 of the pilgrimage, Fudo-in, still within Miyoshi City, and pretty much directly opposite Temple number 4, Hashikura, on the mountain slope on the opposite bank.

In the grounds is a Fudo Myoo, a Mizuko Jizo, and a Kannon. The temple is also number 17 on the Awa Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

It is a fairly modern temple, being established in 1897 and built in 1902. It is a Shingon temple and the honzon is a Fudo Myoo.

It is said to have been carved in the early 12th century by the monk Kakuban, who separated from Koyasan and founded the Negoroji Temple, where he is buried.

The statue and the temple name were transferred from a temple down below Koyasan in Wakayama. In early Meiji it was illegal to establish new temples so many temples were "transferred" from other places where they may have been abandoned or fallen into disuse.

I am not sure when it became legal to establish new temples, but I reem to remember quite a few temples Ive visited being set up by finding an abandoned one in another part of the country and transferring the name.

Inside the main hall.

The Fudo Myoo honzon said to be carved by Kakuban.

The previous post in this series was on the suspension bridge a little ways upstream.

Sangenyama Toko-ji Temple 67 Kyushu pilgrimage

 

Tokoji, temple 67 on the Kyushu pilgrimage is located in the basin down below Mount Kurokami in the mountains between Arita and Takeo in Saga.

According to the temples history it was founded as a branch temple of number 69, Saikomitsuji, when it was founded by Kobo Daishi in the early 9th century upon his return from China.

It flourished as a shrine-temple complex for mountain ascetics.

It enshrined Kurokami Daigongen, gongen being Buddhist avatars of kami.

It was destroyed by fire but rebuilt in 1547 with a Yakushi Nyorai as honzon.

The temple is number 37 on the Kyushu Yakushi pilgrimage.

The temple received support from the local daimyo.

In 1868 Shugendo was outlawed, the guardian shrine was moved to another site, and the temple fell into disuse and disrepair.

It was revived sometime in the twentieth century.

There are many Mizuko Jizo in the grounds, and in the main hall is a small Kannoin statue said to be worshiped by Hidden Christians during the Edo period.

The previous post was on the nearby Mudo-in temple.