Toshunji Temple 16 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Toshunji, temple number 16 of the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage is located right next to the famous Pagoda at Rurikoji Temple, and so most visitors usually pass by.

It was established by Motonari Mori, the great warlord who ruled over most of the Chugoku region until fighting for the losing side in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1601.

He founded the temple in 1572 as a family temple within the grounds of his home castle in Yoshida, now Hiroshima Prefecture. It is a Rinzai Zen temple with Kannon as honzon.

He moved it to this site in 1605 after most of his lands were stripped away. He moved it again in 1618 to Hagi.

In 1869, following the Meiji Restoration, it was moved back to this site.

The site was originally an Ouchi Clan temple called Kokusei-ji and the current gate, photo 4, built in 1402, is from the original temple and is an Important Cultural Property.

The Kannon Hall, photo 6, dates to 1430, and was moved here in 1915. It is also an Important Cultural Property.

There is a small garden, mostly bamboo with a few maple.

The previous post in this series on day 23 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the autumn colours at Ryufukuji Temple

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Ryufukuji Temple in Autumn

 

Ryufukuji is a Zen temple in Yamaguchi City. Originally it was Rinzai sect but was later converted to Soto sect.

It is one of the best places in the city to view autumn colours as the approach to the temple gate is lined with maple trees.

Once you pass through the gate all turns yellow from a huge Gingko tree...

Like so many temples, it has been rebuilt many times and moved to different locations.

Its current location is within the grounds of what used to be the Ouchi Clan mansion.

The Ouchi were an ancient clan, claiming descent from Korean immigrants. They are also believed to have introduced the cult of Myoken into Japan.

During the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), when Kyoto was devastated by war, the Ouchi established Yamaguchi as an alternative to Kyoto with many aspects of elite culture.

They were eventually defeated by the Mori Clan who went on to rule most of the Chugoku region.

The main hall with its cypress bark roof dates to 1479 and is an Important Cultural Property.

A small building in the grounds is a museum with artitacts relating to the Ouchi Clan.

The original temple, before renaming and relocating several times, dates to the first decade of the 13th century.

The honzon is a Shaka Nyorai, the Japanese name for Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha.

The previous post in this series on my walk on day 23 of the Chugoku Pilgrimage was also another autumn colours extravaganza, the Sesshu garden at Jyoei-ji Temple.

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Jyoei-ji Temple & the Shigemori Garden

 

Jyoei-ji Temple in Yamaguchi City is a Rinzai temple more commonly known as Sesshuteien after the garden designed by Sesshu within its grounds.

A statue of Sesshu, one of the most important artists and garden designers in Japanese history as well as being a zen monk, stands at the entrance to the temple.

On the approach you pass through Muin, a wide, fairly simple garden created in 2012. photos above and below. This is the first of 4 gardens at the temple.

None of the current buildings are very old, but it is quite a big temple with many smaller halls within the grounds.

The temple also has some nice art...

However, the main focus of the temple is the huge garden to the rear which is the biggest garden designed by Sesshu and said to be based on one of his landscape paintings....

I was here at the start of day 23 of my walk along the Chugoku Pilgrimage and it was peak Autumn Colours time so I highly recommend my post from last year of 24 shots of the Sesshu Garden in glorious colours.

For this post I will concetrate on the garden in front of the main hall.

It was designed by Mirei Shigemori.

It is called Nanmeitei garden and was built in 1968.

There is a story that the head priest asked Shigemori to make a garden that was not so good so that it did not detract from the Sesshu Garden.

The garden uses the two gates as a backdrop.

Please enjoy these close-up shots of the garden.

The honzon of the temple is a Thousand-armed Kannon.

The final garden is a small karesansui garden using  a reddish gravel rather than the usual white....

I once again urge you to check out the post of the Sesshu Garden in full Autumn Colours.

The previous post in this series was on my walk into Yamaguchi City the previous afternoon.

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.