Daisho-in is a Rinzai Zen temple in the castle town of Hagi, Yamaguchi.
A little off the regular tourist route in Hagi, the quietness combined with dilapidation make for an atmospheric visit.
The garden and pond are quite nice, but the main sight to see is the family graveyard of the Mori clan who moved here and built the castle and town.
The temple was derelict when the Mori moved here, but the second Lord of Hagi, Tsunahiro, rebuilt the temple in the mid 17th Century as a family temple. He, as well as his father and the 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th Lords are interred here along with their wives. The other generations were interred on the other side of Hagi in Tokoji.
Leading up to the tombs are 603 stone lanterns donated by loyal vassals. Thats 100 more than at the more visited Tokoji. Every Obon all the lanterns are lit.
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Hi Jake,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of Daisho-in. I was at there in April 2012 while riding the Chugoku pilgrimage route. The graveyard, in particular, was very run-down in appearance. It was fascinating but sad in its state of neglect and memento mori atmosphere. The temple itself was in a great state of disorganisation at the time as refurbishment was being started. It gave me an opprtunity to see and take a photo of the main image of Amida being moved out onto a verandah. I recall that there was a garden next to the temple with a distinctive echo. I saw a number of people clapping and calling but language inadeqacies on my part meant that I could not determine exactly what they were expecting.
Beautiful pictures (as allways!) Regards.
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