Inside Tadaji Temple

 

The honzon of Tada-ji temple in Hamada is an Eleven-faced Kannon, but it is a secret Buddha only visible once a year.

However, there is a Thousand-armed Kannon to be seen...

And to my great delight, several Fudo statues......

However, perhaps the most interesting thing to see are the 59 wooden statues which I have earlier referred to as "drowned Buddhas".

They were discovered floating in the sea below Tada-ji in 1870.

They have been dated to the Kamakura Period, and are about 1,000 years old.

In 1868 the new government unofficially encouraged anti-Buddhist sentiment, and in some areas this led to the destruction of many temples and their treasures.

On the Oki islands for instance, every single temple was destroyed. In other areas nothing was touched.

It seems to have been very much based on situations where local priests were particularly oppressive to the people, rather than any ideological or religious reasons.

The currents along the coast here are from the west, so its seems that the statues drifted from the west over a two year period.

One would think that with such a major collection of statues, and the known currents and time frames it would be possible to figure out where they came from.

Apparently not. The whole anti-Buddhist movement is avoided as a topic, which may explain the reluctance to find out....

After already being very old and probably somewhat deteriorated due to age, plus two years knocked around in water, has led to some eerie expressions on some of the statues.....

If you are visiting Tadaji, it is well worth ringing the bell at the priests house and office and having them open the main hall for you.

This link will take you to a short, earlier post on the drowned Buddhas.

The previous post in this series was on the exterior and grounds of the temple.

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Fukushoji Temple Cherry Blossoms, Sacred Waterfall, & Tengu Legend

 

After crossing over the small Kamo River in  Kitsumoto, the Kiiji Route of the Kumano Kodo starts to head uphill towards the next pass, but a huge swath of cherry trees in full bloom beackon to take a small detour.

The climb up to Fukushoji Temple was well worth it, as evidenced by the large group of day-walkers also there...

Not only a ton of sakura, but great views, and a sacred waterfall....

I have to say that this section of the route, from Yuasa to Kainan, was one of the best sections of the Kumano Kodo for me....

The falls are named Urami no Taki, given that name by Yorinobu Tokugawa, the first daimyo of the Kishu Domain.

It is possible to walk behind the 20 metre high falls.....

It is said to be a bit more spectacular after a period of heavy rain, when it can be up to 30 meters wide.

Not sure when the temple was founded, but it is recorded that Kobo Daishi visited the temple in 804 and performed rituals in preparation of his upcoming trip to China.

The honzon is a Thousan-armed Kannon, but there are also a a Kokuzo and a Fudo Myoo.

The main hall dates to at least 1512, maybe earlier. The Gumonji Hall dates to 1650 as does the Bell Tower. All three are Important Cultural Properties.

The legend about the tengu is as follows..... One lived in one of the huge sacred trees behind the temple, but as it was cold in winter a local family allowed him to stay in their storehouse.

The daughter-in-law of the family would bring the tengu food, and he would respond with requests to be able to offer something in return as it was driving him crazy just taking and not being able to repay the kindness...

Eventually the daughter-in-law suggested that the uncle of the family was old and now bedridden but had always wanted to visit the Kumano Sanzan, and so the tengu carried the old man on his back down the pilgrimage trail to Kumano.

There is the imprint of a tengu foot in the floor of the veranda of the temple, though I didn't notice it...

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Saigoku and Kumano Kodo Pilgrimages was on a couple of nearby shrines connected to the introduction of mandarins into Japan.

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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

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 everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.