Torin-an & Yuku-an Temples 49 & 50 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

December 28th, 2015, and I begin day 5 of my walk along the Shodoshima Pilgrimage with a couple of small hermitages close to each other.

Both are located to the NE of Tonosho, the biggest town and main port of the island. Most pilgrims start in Tonosho and go around the island clockwise. I, however, started in the SE of the island and roughly started at temple 1 and went clockwise, so I am approaching Tonosho for the first time.

I ended up taking 8 days to do the pilgrimage, and as this is thye start of day 5 I have technically passed the halfway point.

Number 49, Torin-an, was in the past a fully-fledged temple called Manganji, but now is downgraded to a hermitage. It's primary statue is a wooden Jizo. As with all these tiny, community supported establishments, there was a well kept undercover seating area for pilgrims.

Very close by in number 50, Yuku-an, with a large lotus pond in front, though at this time of the year no sign of the lotus plants.

Yuku-an is a little more substantial than Torin-an. Its main statues is a Yakushi Nyorai, though it has several other statues inside and a large stone Jizo outside...

The Jizo is probably a Kosodate Jizo.

Flanking the Nyorai, which is a "hidden Buddha", is a statue of En no Gyoja, photo 11, the legendary founder of Shugendo.

With so many mountain cave temples on the pilgrimage, this points to its origins with shugenja and yamabushi.

The final photo shows the remains of last year's lotus plants....

The previous post in this series was on the final two temples of yesterday, Tamonji and Enmanji

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Dogaku Temple 11 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

The gate at Dogaku-ji is quite unusual. Architecturally, it is, I believe, Chinese in style, but with a different style of roof that is not normally seen with this kind of gate.

Some people complain about the graffiti scratched into the walls, but some of it seems quite old and overall gives a kind of wabi-sabi patina....

Dogakuji turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise.

It is the second of the twenty "extra" temples on the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage, but when I walked that pilgrimage, it was too far off the main route for me to visit.

I visited it as the 11th temple on the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, and my first stop was the cave-like structure housing the Fudo.

Often, Fudo is shown with two young boy attendants. In total, he has 36 of these attendants, and on this pilgrimage, each temple has a different one of the 36. Here at Dogakuji, it is Ratara Doji.

The Fudo is a Noten Fudo, said to offer protection against dementia and strokes.

The Seven Lucky Gods.

It is said the temple was founded by Gyoki.

There is a miniature Ohenro pilgrimage with all 88 of the honzon statues represented as well as then20 extra.

I believe that under each of the circles on the ground is sand brought from each temple as well.

Now this "hall" is filled with windchimes.

I visited on December 27th, 2016. A few months later the main hall was completely destroyed by fire,but I believe it has now been rebuilt.

The temple is famous for its wisteria, but in midwinter, were obviously dormant.

The temple is most famous for being where Kobo Daishi studied and trained as a young child.

He came back much later as an adult and enshrined various statues that he himself had carved, including the honzon, a Yakushi Nyorai.

It is a National Treasure and survived the recent bfire.

The spring was used by the child Kobo Daishi for water for his inkstone.

Behind the spring is a delightful garden I will post about next.

The main hall that burned down a few months after this photo was taken...

Several Mizuko Jizo line the approach.

Overall Dogakuji was a nice surprise and has many sights of interest.

The statue to the right of the steps is of Iroha Daishi, about the legend that Kobo Daishi composed the Iroha, a poem that is a kind of mnemonic for the Japanese syllabary, similar to the alphabet song in English. He is said to have composed it as a child here, but the statue shows an older Kobo. For many reasons, historians say the Iroha was composed several centuries after Kobo Daishi.

The previous post in this series on my walk around Shikoku on the Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the nearby temple 10, Tozenji.

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Tamonji Temple 46 & Enmanji Temple 74 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

Day 4 of my walk along the 88 temple Shodoshima Pilgrimage was fast coming to a close, and I needed to head across the narrow valley to the main road to catch a bus back into Tonosho to my room for the night.

In the distance is the Giant Kannon I would be visiting the next day.

Tamonji was founded in the late 12th century as a shrine-temple named Torinbo. Shrine temples performed ceremonies for thr enshrined kami but also looked after the funerals of the Shinto priests.

A groupof modern rakan statues were quite striking. Not sure what the mound is.

The temple changed it's name to Tamon-ji in the late 17th century, and in 1744 moved to the current location.

The honzon is a Yakushi Nyorai, attributed to Gyoki, but with no information where the statue was before this temple. It is a "secret Buddha" that has a reputation for healing eyesight problems.

I didn't notice it, but there is an underground Fudo Hall..... would have liked to se that.

There is a huge Yamamomo tree in the grounds that is listed as some kind of important natural property. Known as Japanese Bayberry, the small red fruits are much prized in many traditional dishes...

I climb up to the main road and check the bus timetable and see I have time to visit temple number 74 nearby.

Enmanji claims to have been founded by Gyoki, which would be around the turn of the 8th century. it was restored in the 10th century and was named Jionji. In the late 12th century it moved to its current location and was renamed Jufukuin.

In the mid Edo Period it was renamed Enmanji. After WWII it converted to Shingon, and the current buildings date to 1992.

The honzon is an eleven-faced Kannon. It is a secret Buddha, but in 1992 a new "stand in" statue was carved.

The temple also has an Amida triad, said to date to the Fujiwara Period.

The second oldest Juniper tree on the island stands in the grounds...

The previous post in this series on the delightful Shodoshima Pilgrimage was on temples 47 and 48 in the mountains.

If you would like to subscribe by email just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and 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