Rurikoji Temple & National Treasure Pagoda

 

The pagoda at Rurikoji Temple in Yamaguchi is considered one of the top3 pagodas in all of Japan, along with one at Daigoji Temple in Kyoto and one at Horyuji Temple in Nara.

It is registered as a National Treasure and was built in 1442.

It is 31.2 meters tall with cypress bark roofs. It is mostly Japanese in style, though with some Chinese Zen influences...

It was built by Ouchi Moriharu to memorialize his brother,  Ouchi Yoshihiro who died at the Battle of Oei.

The pagoda houses an Amida statue and a statue of Yoshihiro in monk form.

It is said his coffin lies beneath the pagoda.

The grounds around the pagoda are known as Kozan Park and is a great spot for cherry blossoms, and also for autumn colours, which is when I visited.

The pagoda is illuminated every night.

The temple originally at this site was Koseki-ji. The main hall was moved to Fudo-in Temple in Hiroshima City and is also a National Treasure.

Rurikoji was founded in 1471 at a different location and was named Anyoji Temple, being renamed Rurikoji in 1497. It was moved to the current site in 1690.

It is a Soto sect Temple and the honzon is a Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha.

The small museum in the temple is worth a visit as it has scale models of 55 other pagodas from around Japan as well as a large model of the pagoda here showing how it was constructed.

The museum also has a nice collection of masks that appealed to me, and several paintings including one attributed to Sesshu.

I have some other photos which show the details of the pagoda a little better from a previous visit.

The previous post in this series on day 23 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on neighbouring Toshinji Temple.

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A Night On Miyajima

 

From Daisho-in Temple the views down onto Itsukushima Shrine and its iconic torii are quite impressive.

Daisho-in administered  Itsukushima Shrine until 1868, and it was, like most religious sites in Japan at the time both Buddhist and "shinto" hence the pagoda....

It was getting late and my plan was tp sleep out in a park on the back-side of the island.

I didnt go into the shrine..... too expensive, too many visitors, and having been there several times before, not much to see....

Said to be the biggest rice-spoon, shamoji, in the world...

Miyajima has numerous shrines on the shoreline, and originally all of them were only visited by boat, no-one lived on the island

Now there is a road on a small section of the coast of Miyajima, but still some of the shrines can only be reached by boat.

On the back side of the island, there are lots of oyster farms.

My room for the night was a bench in a small park. The previous post was on Daishoin Temple.

Miyajima. Glimpses of Very Familiar Japan

 

Considered one of the Three Great Views of Japan, Itsuhushima Shrine on Miyajima in Hiroshima is an iconic image of Japan.

A World Heritage site, it is also one of the most visited sites for foreign tourists in Japan, and therefore one of the most photographed.

So I apologize for posting all these photos. I normally like to focus on the less familiar sights, but the pilgrimage brings me here, so.......

Up the valley behind Itsukushima Shrine is Daisho-in, the temple that administered the shrine for a millenia.

The previous post in this series was on the curious Umi Mori Art Museum on the mountainside facing Miyajima.