Abuto Kannon

 

Abuto Kannon is a Kannon Hall perched on a rocky outcropping overlooking the Inland Sea at the southern tip of Numakuma Peninsula between Fukuyama and Onomichi.

It has been promoted by local tourist authorities in recent years but is still hard to reach and virtually unkown.

It is part of Bandai-ji Temple,  which claims  an origin of 992, and is now a Rinzai Zen temple

However, the real history is lost in time, although for sure it is said to have been rebuilt in 1338 and then once again fell into disrepair.

It was certainly rebuilt in 1570 which is when Mori Terumoto built the Kannon Hall.

The legend says that a local fisherman found a Kannon statue in his net and placed it on the rocks where the hall is now.

The kannon Hall is a registered National Important Cultural Property.

I arrived from Tomonoura on a footpath that leads down from the main road and then approaches the hall from the East.

From the temple a covered corridor leads up to the hall which has an open veranda on three sides.

The views are amazing.

As well as safety at sea, the temple has a reputation for childbirth and child-rearing.

Abuto Kannon has the biggest collection of breast-shaped ema votive plaques I have seen outside of Karube Shrine which I had visited a few days earlier.

There is no public transport to Bandaiji Temple.

A nearby ryokan will organize a viewing of Abuto Kannon from the sea if enough people sign up.

This was my first stop on day 11 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and entailed making a long detour off the most direct route, but was well worth it.

The previous post was on the Yosakoi dancing at the Fukuyama Summer Festival the evening before.

Jinsenji Temple Yuasa

 

Jinsenji Temple is located in Yuasa, the small town in Wakayama said to be where soy sauce was invented.

Said to have been founded originally as Kaiunji Temple in the early 8th century by Gyoki, and was used as lodgings by imperial pilgrims on their way to Kumano, but fell into disrepair and was re-established in the mid 15th century as a Jodo sect temple.

It was burned down in the Great Fire of Yuasa in the 1650's but rebuilt in 1664. 

Jinesenji has a small but lovely raked sand garden, but its most interesting feature is the large  pair of mythical Shachi on the roof ridge.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, said to be the oldest circuit pilgrimage in Japan, was on Kimiidera, the huge temple somewhat north of here.

Bukkokusan Temple 41 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

Bukkokusan Temple

Bukkokusan, temple number 41 on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage, is actually the okunoin of temple 40, Hoanji, and if you are walking then a footpath leads up the mountain from there.

The foot path reaches a small mountain road that leads to the entrance to the temple.

A pair of newish stone Nio guardians flank the road, and either side is lined with stone lanterns. Just before reaching the simple gate a bronze statue of Kobo Daishi, the focus of the 88 temple pilgrimage, looks down on approaching pilgrims. The temple itself is quite small, with just a stylized temple entrance facade to the cave front. A few statues are out in front of the temple which has great views to the south and east.  

One statue stands out as it is not any of the usual Buddhas, but rather a pair of Oni, demons or ogres, the male painted red and the female painted blue. There are two stories relating to the origin of the statue.

  

The first is that in ancient times a demon inhabited this mountain and continuously attacked local people who ventured into the mountains. This is a very common story found all over Japan. The demon was eventually pacified and stopped attacking people when he became a disciple of Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha. Buddhism pacifying demons is also a very common story.

The second legend is set much later in the time that intermarriage between classes was forbidden. This is also a very common story all over, and more often than not ends up with a love suicide. In this local story a pair of young lovers from across the class divide chose to run away together and finding themselves at the cave as night was falling chose to spend the night in the cave whereupon they consummated their relationship. Unable to return home the story is vague about what happened to them although the two stories became linked together and the demon became a kind of protective deity of the mountain and the cave became known as a place to pray for a successful marriage, children, and easy birth.

The interior of the cave is quite magical with many candles, some in niches carved in the rock walls, providing the only illumination.

  

There is a very unusual painted statue of the aforementioned Yakushi Nyorai with distinctly female facial features. This is the honzon, the main deity, of the temple.

  

There are another couple of statues and in the deepest recess of the cave a small stone Fudo Myo in front of which Goma fire rituals are held.

  

Numerous bunches of Senbazuru, the folded paper cranes in multicolors, many of which have become blackened by years of soot.

The cave is about 400 meters above sea level.

It is said Kobo Daishi himself performed rituals inside the cave.

The water that seeps out through the cave walls is collected into small plastic bottles and taken away as healing water.

The views from the temple are amazing.

By road it is a couple of kilometers to the next temple,but just 400 meters on the footpath.

The previous post in this series was temple 40, Hoanji.

Goods From Japan

Kannonji Temple Demons Gate of Fukuyama Castle

 

After exploring Tomonoura I headed back into Fukuyama again to spend my second night there and as there was still plenty of daylight left I went to explore the area to the NE of the castle.

My first stop was Kannonji Temple which has a Niomon gate before a long Pine-flanked approach.

The Nio were quite impressive....

In Japanese culture, imported from China, the NE direction is considered where evil comes from, and so temples were often placed to the NE of important sites to protect them. These were called Kimon.

Perhaps the most famous example is the placing of Enryakuji Temple on top of Mount Hiei to protect Kyoto.

When Fukuyama Castle was built in the 17th century the daimyo had this temple brought from another area and placed as the kimon.

The Hondo and main gate are dated to 1651 and are registered as Important Cultural Properties.

Kannonji is a Shingon temple and was under the control of Myoo-in.

The honzon is a Kannon and the temple is on both the Fukuyama and the Bingo Kannon pilgrimages.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Fukuzenji Temple in nearby Tomonoura.