Saihoji Temple Sasebo

 

Saihoji Temple is considered to be the oldest and the most important temple in Sasebo.

It was rebuilt after being destroyed at the end of WWII in a bombing raid. The impressive Niomon was not actually completed until 2001.

Inside the Niomon were a pair of statues of Fujin, the Wind God, and Raijin, the Storm God.

Ostensibly Shinto in origin, being created by Izanami while in Yomi, they are usually found, like here, in Buddhist temples.

According to the temple's website, the Nio were each carved in China from a single piece of wood.

It is a Soto Zen temple with a Shaka Nyorai as honzon.

The original temple was Rinzai and founded in the early 13th century. It fell into disrepair but in the mid 15th century it was moved to its current location by the Akasaki Lord and rebuilt as a Soto temple.

The previous post was on nearby Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine.

Nanzoin Temple part 2

There is a lot to see at Nanzoin Temple. A friend once described it, critically, as like a Buddhist "theme park", but I think back in the Edo period pilgrimage temples were a lot like that with many "attractions" to draw pilgrims. In the grounds  stands a massive, ancient tree that had been hit by lightning, though still living. Carved into it is a relief of Raijin, the God of Thunder and Lightning.

Nanzoin is a pilgrimage temple, being the first of the Sasaguri Pilgrimage. There is also a complete set of the 500 Rakan, or Arhats, the disciples of the Buddha, each with a different face and pose.

Not sure who this is. Obviously dressed as a monk, it might very well be Kobo Daishi. the founder of Shingon, the sect to which Nanzoin belongs.

This modern carving of a married couple is a Sainokami, also known as Dosojin. In earlier times they were often a single phallic stone, or a a pair of stones and were placed at village boundaries and crossroads for protection.

Probably a Jizo as he often is holding a staff and with children around him, but he seems to have a medicine jar in his left hand which is what Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha, would be holding