Jinguji Temple 2 Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Jinguji is yet another of the Rokugo Manzan Tendai temples which according to egend were founded in 718 all over the Kunisaki Peninsula.

It is in quite a remote location and so doesnt get as many visitors as some of the more famous Kunisaki temples. I arrived by coming over the mountain ridge along the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Trail that follows the old yamabushi pilgrimage route.

The temple was destroyed by a big fire in the Meiji Period.

There is a treasure house that has some old Oni masks as well as a bunch of "burned Buddhas", statues that have been almost burnt to a crisp by fire. Unfortunately no-one was home to let me in.

The okunoin is a Rokugo Shrine, but I decided not to make the climb as it was already getting close to twilight.

Ther were a few older statues around the grounds and an interisting carved relief. Unusually there were no Nio.

Obvioulsy the temple is on the Rokugo Manzan pilgrimage, and I am guessing that is from where the pilgrim ofudas stuck to the ceiling above the entrance to the main hall were from.

The honzon is a Fudo Myoo, quite a small one.....

The previous post in this series on the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on Yama Shrine where I stopped before climbing over the ridge.

Jobutsuji Temple 3 Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Jobutsuji, temple number three of the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, is quite close to Monjusenji, temple number four, high in the mountains at the centre of the Kunuisaki Peninsula in Oita.

Like most of the older temples and shrines in the area it is guarded by stone Nio guardians.

It is said to have been founded in 718 by the legendary monk Ninmon who founded the 28 temples of the Rokugo Manzan shugendo system, so its not surprising that Jobutsuiji is on the Rokugo Manzan pilgrimage also.

Outwardly the temple appears like many smallish, rura; temples, and the architecture is nothing special, however it is home to an unusual and unique festival.

Shujo Onie is held on the Lunar New Year and used to be performed at twenty temples around the peninsula, but now only at 3. Tennenji Temple which I visited a few days earlier on this pilgrimage, and nearby Iwatoji Temple which holds the festival on alternate years with Jobutsuji.

I did not visit Iwatoji on this trip, but was lucky enough to see Shujo Onie a few years earlier there. The post on it has a few videos of the amazing torch procession that precedes the demon dance;

This was day 4 of my walk around Kunisaki at the start of the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage and I was mostly following the trail that roughly follows the old shugendo pilgrinage route and so was doing the 7 Fudo Myo temples here in approximately reverse order.

The previous post in this series was on Monjusenji Temple 4 of the Kyushu Fudo Pilgrimage

Kyu Sentoji Temple

 

The "kyu" in the name means "former" as it refers to the site where the temple once stood.

Down the mountain on the main road is the new Sentoji Temple, built, I believe after 1968 when a forest fire detroyed the last vestiges of the original temple.

Once the grandest of all the Rokugo Manzan temples in the central Kunisaki Peninsula area, some sources also suggest it was the first to be built.

A Torii tands on the path to the ruins, typical of the syncretic cult that existed here with Nio guardians at shrines, and torii at temples.

A pair of Nio stanf guard at what was the Goma Hall of the temple.

Sento-ji, as well as 27 other temples, are said to have been established in 718 by legendary monk Ninmon. This is of course legend, as records from this time are minimal, but Ninmon was a historal figure and his grave, and also the cave where he is said to have died, is a little higher up the mountain next to the Okunoin.

The temple was mostly detroyed, probably in 1560, when Otomo Sorin fought against and subdued the armed monks of Usa Hachimangu.

The Rokugo Manzan cult had strong connections with Usa Hachiman, being a Tendai-Hachiman cult primarily.

Obviously something continued to function here until the forest fire of 1968.

From the main temple site a path leads through the forest and up the mountain to the Okunoin.

Like most such places here, it is built into a cave. There are other caves with statuary and the cemetery that has Ninmons grave. 

I was here at the start of day 4 of my second walk around Kyushu, this time following the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage. For this first week I was roughly following the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail which closely follows the ancient yamabushi pilgrimage from Usa Hachimangu and then around the Rokugo manzan sites.

The previous post was on the Rokugo Shrine in Ebisudani.

Mt. Ebisu Jisso-in Temple 5 Kyushu Fudo Myo pilgrimage

 

Jisso-in Temple is situated between  Reisenji Temple and Rokusho Shrine high in the mountains of the Kunisaki peninsula in northern Oita.

The three were all part of the same sacred site until the separation of Buddhas and Kami in 1868.

In the temple grounds stand two Jizo statues, one large, and one small. They are known as Mimi Jizo and local people pray to them for healing from illness.

As well as being number 5 on the Kyushu 36 temple Fudo Myo pilgrimage, it is number 15 on the Rokugo Manzan pilgrimage which closely approximates the ancient pilgrim route for yamabushi of the syncretic cult that combines Tendai esoteric Buddhism and  Usa Hachiman.

The honzon is a Fudo statue dated to 1787. Next door was the much larger original Rokusho Shrine site to which I turn next.

The previous post in this series on the Kyushu Fudo pilgrimage was Reisenji Temple next door.

Mudo-ji Temple 6 Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

Mudo-ji Temple

The Fudo Myo statue at Mudoji Temple on the Western slope of the Kunisaki peninsula is calmer and much less fierce than most, and this is said to be indicative of the style of the Heian period when it was carved.

Mudo-ji is temple number 6 on the Kyushu Fudo Myoo pilgrimage but was the first of the pilgrimage temples I visited even though I was well into day 2 of my walk.

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In its heyday it was a large and powerful temple of the Rokugo Manzan shugendo system in the Usa-Kunisaki area and had between 50 and 100 monks as well as controlling numerous temples in the vicinity. It is said to have been founded in the early 8th century by Ninmon, the legendary founder of the Rokugo Manzan.

Nowadays the temple is most known for its collection of 16 Heian period statues including the Fudo as well as the largest wooden statue in the area, a Yakushi, pictured above.

There is also a statue of Dainichi Nyorai, the Great Sun Buddha, the central figure is the esoteric sects of Tendai and Shingon. There is also a statue of Maitreya, the Future Buddha who will appear at some point in the far future.

I had arrived at Mudoji after coming down from the ridge that separated this river valley from that of Tennenji and the Fudo cliff carving there.