Chogen was a Buddhist monk in the 12th century who spent time in China not just studying Buddhism but also architecture and civil engineering.
He was given the task of overseeing the reconstruction of the great Todaiji temple in Nara which had been burned down during the Taira no Shigehira Rebellion in 1180.
The district of Tokuji in the mountains of what is now southern Yamaguchi, belonged to Todaiji Temple and so at the age of 66 Chogen visited the area to find lumber for the reconstruction.
The Todaiji that he was to rebuild was even bigger than the one standing today which was the biggest wooden building in the world until fairly recently.
The lumber to build an even bigger Todaiji needed to include a lot of massive trees, which apparently were in short supply in the Kinki area.... no doubt because of all the temples and palaces built there...
One tree that Chogen is said to have harvested from around here was one 30 meters tall with a diameter of more than 1.5 meters.
Getting lumber of this size to Nara involved first getting it down the Saba River to the coast, about 25 kilometers.
About 70 labourers were involved, with huge ropes made of wisteria vine. In places the river was too shallow so Chogen created channels lined with stones to ease passage.
Stone baths used by the workers are found along the river banks. Also trees were planted on the banks to serve as mile-markers...
I reached the Saba River where the Shimaji flows into it, right where the monument to Chogen in the top two photos is.
I walked downstream a few kilometers before crossing and heading west along Route 376, which closely shadowed the Chugoku Expressway.
The previous post in this series on day 22 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the
nearby Kumano Shrine.I have no idea what this building was but it seemed to be in the grounds of a shrine I visited next.
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