Iyo Kokubunji Temple 59 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

After visiting Senyuji, temple 58 of the pilgrimage, the route comes back down from the mountains towards the sea and temple 59, Kokubunji, among the rice paddies outside Imabari City.

It is one of the "Nation Protecting" temples established in every province in the early 8th century usually adjacent to the government administrative centres established under the new Ritsuryo system.

The other three Kokubunji on Shikoku are also part of the pilgrimage, number 15, Awa Kokubunji, number 29, Tosa Kokubunji, and number 80, Sanuki Kokubunji.

It was officially established in 741, and it was certainly built by 756. Founded by Gyoki, as so many of the pilgrimage temples are, the honzon is a Yakushi, Medicine Buddha, said to have been carved by Gyoki himself.

Worth looking for when visiting is the lovely "topless" Benzaiten statue in the Benten Shrine. Also noticeable is the Hand-Shaking Daishi statue below.

The temple was destroyed by war on numerous occasions, in 939 during a rebellion by Fujiwara Sumitomo, in 1184 during the Genpei War, in 1364 during the Northern Court-Southern Court warfare, and like so many of the pilgrimage temples, by Chosokabe Motochika in the late 16th century. A fire in 1689 once again destroyed most of the temple. It is said the hoinzon and other btresures survived each time.

The current main hall was rebuilt in 1789. Kobo Daishi is said to have spent some time here and donatede paintings pf the Five Wisdom Kings. It is a Shingon temple now.

The current site is believed to have been where the government offices were originally. The original site of the temple was about 150 meters  away. Immediately adjacent to the temple is a Kasuga Shrine which was part of the same complex until the sepeartion of Buddhas and Kami in 1868.

The previous temple was number 58, Senyuji.

Senyuji Temple 58 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Senyuji Temple, number 58 on the famed Ohenro Pilgrimage on Shikoku, is a mountain temple with stunning views down onto Imabari in Ehime.

For those who visit on foot there is a steep path from the Niomon gate up to the main temple grounds.

The Nio are of a standard design but quite striking.

One thing unusual about Senyuji is that it was said to be founded neither by Gyoki nor Kobo Daishi, the 2 founders of the majority of Ohenro temples.

legend says it was established by the provincial governor under orders from Emperor Tenchi in the mid to late 7th century. The honzon, a Senju Kannon, is said to have been carved by a Dragan woman who came up from the sea.

When Kobo Daishi visited it had fallen into disrepair but he rebuilt it. It again fell into disrepair during the Edo Period but was restored in the early Meiji Period.

It is not a very big temple and the buildings were rebuilt in the 1950's following a major fire, but it has great views. It is known for its shukubo, temple lodgings, quite well known for their delicious shojin ryori vegetarian cuisine.

I did not stay here on this trip, but later when walking the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage I did, and would heartily recommend it.

The statue of Binzaru (below) is said to be the biggest and best on the pilgrimage.

The previous temple was number 57, Eifukuji.

Eifukuji Temple 57 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Temple 56 is quite a small temple with Amida as its honzon. As well as the Daishi-do there is also a Konpira-do and a Yakushi-do.

Eifukuji is the 4th of a cluster of 6 pilgrimage temples in the area of Imabari, Ehime.

It is located at the base of a small mountain to the south of the city, though it used to be located on top of the mountain with views over the city.

The most noticeable thing for me when I visited at the start of my 35th day walking the pilgrimage was the Enbutsu-do, a strikingly modern building that towers over the temple compound.

Designed by architect Zai Shirakawa, it features very thick walls with angled window openings that allow for some privacy but also allow plenty of light to enter.

It is said that Kobo Daishi performed a ritual on the mountaintop in the early 9th century for peace at sea and afterwards Amida appeared and so he built a temple.

In 859 another monk was travelling from Kyushu to Kyoto with the divided spirit of Hachiman to found Iwashimizu Hachimangu. He thought the mountain here looked like the one where Iwashimizu was to be built and so founded a Hachiman Shrine alongside the temple. Both functioned as the same site.

Until 1868, that is,  when the government separated Buddhas and Kami and the temple was relocated to its current location at the foot of the hill. The shrine still stands on top.

There are some fine carvings, and I was surprised to see a Ta no Kami statue (below). The cart in the first photo was left by a 15 year-old crippled pilgrim whose leg was healed at the temple.

The previous temple was temple 56 Taisanji.

Taisanji Temple 56 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

Taisanji, temple 56 on the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage, is located in the rural outskirts of Imabari in Ehime.

I  visited at the end of my 34th day on the pilgrimage. I started the day at another Taisanji Temple, number 52 in Matsuyama, but they are written with different kanji, number 52 roughly means "big mountain", whereas this one means "peace mountain".

Taisanji in Matsuyama was a major temple and I ended up doing two posts on it, one on the architecture, and a second on the art, whereas  the Taisanji here in Imabari is somewhat less interesting and fairly nondescript.

The temple was founded in 815 when Kobo Daishi visited the area. 

The area suffered repeated flooding from the nearby Soja River and so Konoba Daishi performed a ritaul on the banks and helped the villagers to construct a levee.

The honzon of the temple is a Jizo, said to be carved by Kobo Daishi himself.

In earlier times it seems to have been quite large and important, but of course was destroyed many times during conflict.

The current building seem to date back to the mid 19th century.

There is no longer a Niomon, but two fine Nio can be seen in a display structure with windows.

There are a couple of Fudo statues in the grounds and some other statues....

If you look around it is possible to find interesting things, for instance the final photo...

According to one source the temple has a tsuyado, free lodgings, often very minimal, for walking pilgrims.

The previous temple, just 3 kilometers away, was Nankobo Temple.

Nankobo Temple 55 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

Nankobo is located in downtown Imabari, and the first noticeable thing is that instead of Nio guardians, the main gate houses the 4 Shitenno.

For a brief explanation of the shitenno I suggest a post I did on the biggest shitenno in Japan.

Nankobo has a very long and complex history and it took a lot of digging to get a basic understanding. The vast majority of sources are ambiguous and misleading. It begins in the very late 6th century with the establishment of a shrine on Omishima Island between Shikoku and Honshu. This is now known as Otamazumi Shrine and was always important.

24 temples were established as part of the shrine complex, Nankobo being one of them. Like most religious sites in ancient Japan they were Buddhist-"Shinto"-Daoist complexes. In the early 8th century a direct branch of the shrine on Omishima was established here in Imabari, and is immediately adjacent to the current Nankobo. This was done as it was feared that bad weather made crossing to Omishima a problem sometimes.

Around 1200 eight of the 24 temples on Omishma, including Nankobo, were moved to the branch shrine here in Imabari.

Without getting into the history of exactly when the 88 temple Shikoku pilgrimage actually began, it is known that temple 55 was at the shrine temple complex on Omishima, and not on Shikoku until relatively recently.

During the anti-Buddhistm movement of early Meiji the history gets complex again with the honzon of Nankobo, an unusual Buddha named Daitsu Chisho Nyorai, being safely hidden in the shrine next door and then later moved to the Yakushi-do. This then became Nankobo. Incidentally, it seems that this Buddha was also the main "kami" of what is now the Oyamazumi Shrine. Nankobo is the only temple of the 88 to have this Buddha.

The previous temple is a few kilometers away, Enmeiji Temple 54.