Shotokuji Temple 22 Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Shotokuji Temple in Sufu, lies at the foot of a hill that was covered by a largish castle and was the family temple of the lords of the castle and area, the Suo Clan The castle is ometimes called Sufu Castle, and sometimes Tobisu Castle

Some sources claim the temple was founded by Shotoku Taishi himself, or that the temple has a statue carved by him. More likely is that it was established around the same time as the castle in 1228.

The castle was one of 18 castles in Iwami to protect against Mongol invasion.  For 300 years the Suo clan ruled the area. When first built, the sea was much closer to the temple and castle, but over time the land was reclaimed and a small castle town existed. The sea is now 1km away.

In the late 16th century the castle fell to the Mori and the Suo became vassals of the Mori. After Sekigahara the Suo followed the Mori to Nagato and the castle was destroyed.

In 1866 the temple was used as a headquarters by a force of  Kishu Domain samurai and was attacked by Choshu forces in the Second Choshu Expedition. The temples pillars still have bullet holes from that engagement.

It is a Soto Zen temple with a Shaka Nyorai, the historical Buddha, as honzon.

The bell tower gate is quite impressive as are the pair of Nio guardians...

I visited at the start of day 35 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, which coincided with day 16 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage. Will explain in the next post.

The previous post was on the afternoon walk on the day before...

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Unpenji Temple 66 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

I spent the night at a minshuku at the base of Mount Unpenji. Overnight, there had been a heavy snowfall. 

I set off at first light, before the sun, as I had about 650 meters to climb to reach the temple. The trail was virgin. Not a single footstep had been made in the 6 to 12 inches of powdery snow.

After about an hour of climbing I was overtaken by a couple of younger guys who had been eating breakfast when I left the minshuku. Not only younger, but they were only carrying small day packs, so I watched them hurtle up the mountain and sat and had a cigarette break.

Unpenji Temple, the 66th of the pilgrimage is the highest of the temples at about 900 meters altitude.

Thye Niomon is very new, but not the Nio, although I can't find a date for them.

The temples origins begin with Kobo Daishi who climbed the mountain as a you man. He came back later and established the temple.

On his third visit he carved the honzen statue.

It became a well-supported temple with many branch temples on the mountain and became known as the Koya of Shikoku.

However, in the 11th century a fire completely destroyed the temple.

The temple was restored later and the new honzon, a seated 1000-armed Kannon, and a Bishamonten statue were carved.

The great warlord Motochika Chosokabe visited the temple and spoke with the priest about his plan to rule over all of Shikoku. I am guessing that therefore, Unpenji was one of the few temples in Shikoku he didn't destroy.

Most of the buildings seem to be fairly new.

I wish I had had more time to explore, as there are some fine statues inside.

The temple became much more accessible in 1989 when the Unpenji Ropeway was built.

There is actually quite a lot to see at the temple and it has extensive grounds. It is well known for Autumn colours, but for me at least, the most impressive feature was the 500 life-size statues of the Rakan, or Arhats. I gave them their own post here.

Shrine to Gosha Daigongen, the protective kami of the temple.

The previous temple I stopped at was the Bangai Temple Tsubaki-do, down below. Temple 65, Sankakuji was the previous main temple, and the previous post was on the awesome Rakan statues here at Unpenji

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Saidoji Rokkakudo

 

Seemingly floating in Esaki Bay, Saidoji Temple has a distinctive hexagonal hall.

The origin dates back to the early part of the 15th Century and a wealthy family by the name of Nabeyama who had an ony daughter named Okiku. They had hoped to marry her off but she fell in love with a servant named Shichigoro.

When she became pregnant by him, her parents drove him away, and in her sorrow, she threw herself into the sea.

Her parents searched for her for three days and three nights, to no avail, however they did pull up in a et from the sea a Jizo statue holding a child. They took this to be a reincarnation of their daughter and enshrined it on the tiny island.

Seven years later, Shichigoro returned in the guise of a monk and converted the shrine into a temple.

In the 17th Century when the Mori had control of the area they rebuilt the temple with a hexagonal hall. This was to protect the building against the powerful stormy winds. At the same time, they planted a Black Pine, which still grows today.

I have seen other hexagonal buildings in temples around Japan, but the signboard here claims that this one os one of only two in existence, so I suspect they are talking about some aspect of its construction.

The dragon carving was quite nice....

A Boke Fuji Kannon for protection against senility..... an increasingly common Kannon statue in Japan....

The previous post was on the walk to Esaki from Susa.

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Kisshoin Tamonji Temple

 

This temple in the mountains north of downtown Kobe was a real revelation.

The sign at the entrance to Tamonji Temple told me about something I had never heard of .... that for half a year the capital of Japan was not Kyoto, but Fukuharakyo, in what is now Kobe.

Taira Kiyomori moved the child emperor Antoku and set up court in Fukuharakyo in 1180. It was also Kiyomori's retirement palace.

At that time Tamonji was located at the bottom of Mount Rokko, across the valley from its current location. The okunoin of the temple is still on top of Rokko.

Kiyomori chose Tamonji to be the protector temple of the new capital from the dangerous spiritualforces of the NE, a so-called Kimon.

To support the temple, he settled people from the north of Kyoto; Yase, Ohara, etc around the temple.

Interestingly, the temple is said to have been founded in the mid 7th century by an Indian monk, Hodo Sennen, who is associated with many places and legends around Japan.

It fell into disrepair, or was abandoned, until being rebuilt as a Shingon temple in 858.

An unusual tiger statue. The honzon of Tamonji is Bishamonten, and in Japan, he is associated with tigers. For the story see this post from a temple in Kyushu...

 

A few of the simple, "cute" rakan statues...... a whole post on them coming up next post....

During the rebellion against the Taira, an army allied with Yoshitsune Minamoto burned down the temple as they would not assist in their approach to fight the Taira.

In 1428 a bright light was seen emanating from the spot where Tamonji currently stands, and taken as an omen, Tamonji was moved here and rebuilt.

The current main hall dates to 1690.

The Mizuko Jizo seem to have been made by the same people who made many of the rakan here.

The honzons at Tamonji are the Bishamonten, a Kichijoten, and a standing Jizo. They are all secret buddhas, but it is possible that once a year they can be viewed.

One source says that in 1868 2 other temples in the area were combined with Tamonji.

Theer are several shrines within the grounds including an Atago Daigongen, a Hachiman, and an Aizen Inari.

In the structure pictured below used to be a sacred spring of some kind, though it is now dry.

Behind it a Fudo Myoo...

Since moving to this site thetemple seems to have been associated with shugendo, with the head family of the area said to have moved here from the Yoshino area.

Located just a few minutes from Shintetsurokko Station, the temple is not well known but well worth a visit, especially for the rakan which I will post on next....

I was also taken with the unique Onigawara featured in the last photos of this post.

I visited at the start of day 5 of my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was on the delightful Mudoji Temple, not too far away, that I visited the day before.

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.