84,000 Medicine Buddhas

 

One interesting feature of Ichibata Yakushi Temple is the 84,000 Buddhas project. 

Buddhism says that we have 84,000 mental impurities that impede us from enlightenment. Also, it is said that the Buddha had 84,000 teachings. The project here is to amass 84,000 statuettes of Yakushi, the healing Buddha.

I'm not sure how many have been set up, though it is many, many thousands. New ones are being put in the 5th hall to be built to house them. This newest hall is enclosed in windows, so shots like the first in this post won't be possible there. They plan to build 8 halls to house the full 84,000.

Each bronze statue is 24 cms tall, and the purchaser of one, at a mere 50,000 yen, gets their prayer, in ink on washi paper, placed inside the statue.

The standing Yakushi is a cast of the original by Eri Kokei, said to be a leading sculptor of Buddhist statues....

It is fascinating to look for and notice the different patinas as the statues age and are exposed to climatic conditions...

Several of the halls are open to the front and so leaves blow in and are caught among some of the statues.....

The previous post was on the Ichibata Yakushi temple, its history, and some of the other things that can be seen here....

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Ichibata Yakushi Temple 26 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

I head inland from the coast of the Shimane Peninsula and reach Ichibata Yakushi Temple, number 26 on the pilgrimage.

From the car park and main entrance a road is lined with 108 stone lanterns.

At this level are several large halls, including the Hodo and the Honboshoin.

The temple was founded in 894 and the honzon is a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, known as the Medicine Buddha.

A fisherman "caught" the statue in the sea while fishing and took it home with him. After praying to it his mothers eyesight improved and he became a monk.

Several weathered Fudo Myoo stand at the start of a short flight of steps that leads up to the Niomon.

The temple is renowned for the healing of eye problems and is in a sense the Lourdes of Japan for eye ailments.

The temple was originally a Tendai sect temple, but in 1327 converted to Rinzai Zen and changed names to Setokuji.

Unusually, the Nio have lines of small statues of Enma and the other "judges of hell".

In 1653 it was renamed Ichibata-ji.

In 1790 it switched schools within Rinzai to the Myoshinji School.

In 1953, it became the head of its own school and now has 50 branch temples across Japan.

There is a nice set of full-size Rakan statues in front of the main hall, and other sights of interest..

Most of the architecture dates to the 19th and early 20th centuries...

There are some fantastic views looking down on Lake Shinji...

The last 2 photos are of some Fudo statues at the bottom of the stairs. There are 640 steps in all, but many are actually only a few cms high so its not a bad climb.

The railway line that stops at the bottom of the valley near Lake Shinji is called the Ichibata Railway and was built to bring pilgrims from Matsue and Izumo.

An irregular small, local bus runs up to the temple's car park.

For me, the most intriguing sight at the temple is the 84,000 Yakushi statues....... that will be the next post...

The previous post was on nearby Koizu Port and its two shrines.

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Tanoura Kannondo Temple 80 & Tanoura Yakushido Temple 59 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

A striking feature of temple 80, Tanoura Kannondo, is the Seigando Hall with around 300 small statues of a seated Kobo Daishi.

Temple 80, Tanoura Kannondo, and temple 59 Tanoura Yakushido, are located adjacent to each other.

Unfortunately there is very little in terms of dates and history.

As usual there are lots of Fudo Myoo statues as well as others....

The "main hall" is a small cave that was a sutra repository about 300 years ago.

The honzon is a Thousand-armed Kannon. There are numerous other Kannon statues at the temple.

There is one particularly fine, huge sugi tree.

A Benzaiten statue next to yet another Kannon statue....

Nest door is the Yakushi-do, temple 59....

A statue of Fujiki Tosukethe founder of the Sasaguri Pilgrimage. It is believed his hermitage was located near here.

There are also many Fudo statues here...

The honzon is a Yakushi Nyorai, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha.

The statue of Kobo Daishi with his dog relates to a legend that while travelling with his dog they were attacked by a wild boar and the dog dies defending Kobo Daishi.

I have not come across this story anywhere else so it may be a local story...

The previous post was on the nearby temple 30, Higyokudo.

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.