Monjusenji Temple 4 Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Monjusenji is temple number 4 on the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

Located high in the remote mountains of the Kunisaki Peninsula, it lies to the NE of the highest point, Mount Futago.

It is part of the ancient Shugendo cultic system known as Rokugo Manzan, a mix of Usa Hachiman and Tendai Buddhism. Monjusenji is number 25 on the ancient Kunisaki Shugendo Pilgrimage.

However, whereas most of the temples associated with Rokugo Manzan claim their origin in the early 8th century with a monk named Ninmon, Monjusenji is older and claims to have been founded in the mid 7th century by the legendary En no Gyoja.

This makes it the oldest of what are now known as the Rokugo Manzan temples.

Halfway up the steps is the first group of buildings, and here can be found the Fudo statue that is part of the Kyushu Fudo Pilgrimage.

There are several other statues and altars in this small group of buildings and in fron is a very tall, stone stupa, aboiut 8 meters high and possibly the tallest in all Japan.

Further up the steps is the main hall, the Monju-do, enshrining Monju Bosatsu. Monjusenji is considered one of the top 3 Monju temples in Japan.

Known as the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Monju is often prayed to for academic success.

Monju is often depicted riding a shishi or lion.

A sacred spring flows from the cave behind the main hall and the area around thetemple is filled with huge, ancient trees and towering rock formations.

6 Jizo statues.

A group of ema votive plaques, many asking for academic success. The second photo below an ema of Monju Bosatsu.

In a cave two statues of En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of the temple, is srrounded by numerous Fudo Myo statues.

Below is a statue of Gensan Daishi, a name of Ryogen the great Tendai priest of the 10th century. Also referred to as Tsuno Daishi and Oni Daishi, his likeness is commonly found on ofuda from temples to protect against misfortune.

Below is a statue of Monju Bosatsu, but this is not the honzon. The honzon is a "secret Buddha" and only opened every 12 years, in the Year of the Rabbit.

Below are examples of the unique style of masks found in the Kunisaki area.

Below is a goma ceremony being performed. Usually done on the 25th of each month, I was visiting on January 3rd, so I suspect special goma are performed for the new year.

Below a few of the rakan statues in the rock face near the main hall.

The previous post was on the Fudo cliff temple a little to the north, Itsutsuji Fudo.

Hayashi Kumano Shrine. The First Kumano Shrine?

 

This was a completely unexpected site I visited while heading down towards the next pilgrimage temple, Rendaiji. From the first torii up to the main shrine buildings was quite a distance and around the shrine was a lot of open space.

I now believe this area was until around 1868 filled with many Buddhist structures, the three-storey pagoda remaining.

The arrangement of the shrine was also unusual, with a long line of 13 hondens in 4 structures.

Originally called Kumano Junisha Gongen, and renamed Kumano Shrine in 1868, the junisha refers to the 12 kami enshrined in the line of hondens, the 12 kumano kami plus a local protective kami.

According to the founding legend, in 699 the famed mystic and legendary founder of Shugendo was exiled to Izu. A group of 5 of his disciples carried the spirit of what is now Hongu Taisha shrine in Kumano and eventually, in 701, decided upon this spot to found a new shrine. This is why the shrine now claims to be the very first "Kumano" shrine.

The five disciples also founded 5 temples in the area and this became a major shugendo centre with two other sites in the area for a Shin Kumano.

The shrine temple complex went through cycles of destruction like most major religious centres and the oldest remaining structure is the one called Second Hall. It was rebuilt in 1492 and is a National Important Cultural Property.

The remaining structures date back to a rebuild by the Okayama  Daimyo Ikeda Mitsumasa in 1647.

The  kami are listed as Izanami, Izanagi, Amaterasu, Ninigi, Amenoshihomimi, Hikohohodemi, Ugayafukiaeizu, Haniyamahime, Kagutsuchi, Wakamusubi, and Mizuhanome.

Among the secondary shrines in the grounds are Susanoo and Ichikishima.

In 1868 the shrine was separated from all the temple structures and renamed Kumano Shrine.

In 1872 Shugendo was outlawed until 1945.

The previous post was on the remaining temples in the complex and the three-storey pagoda.

Goryu Sonryuin Temple

 

Heading south towards Rendaiji Temple and Yuga Shrine I was surprised by this big torii and major approach to what was called Kumano Shrine, however the right hand side of the approach was filled with a variety of temple buildings that stretched about 400 meters.

There was an area with many Mizuko Jizo, very much a postwar thing, but apparently there were originally five temples here.

It was very much a shugendo site that included the Kumano Shrine and of the five, Sonyuin seems to have been the main temple.

According to the story, when En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of Shugendo, was exiled to Izu by the government, 5 of his disciples wandered around various areas carrying the divided spirits of the Kumano Sanzan shrines and in 701 after divine revelations set up the shrine here.

Each of the five founded a temple but Sonryuin became the main temple. Later in the 8th century the emperor gave all the land in the surrounding district to the shrine complex and around this time Yuga Shrine and Rendaiji Temple to the south were established so the area became a "new" Kumano Sanzan.

Fortunes deteriorated after the Heian Period but one of the sons of Emperor Gotoba, who had been exiled to the Oki Islands, was exiled here and revived the temples until they again fell into disrepair in the 14th century, all except Sonryuin.

In the 15th century during the Onin War the whole shrine temple complex was almost completely destroyed but revived during the Edo Period.

The three-storey pagoda was built in 1820 and now is within the grounds of the Kumano Shrine.

In 1868 when the Buddhas and Kami were separated the shrine and temple separated, and a few years later when Shugendo was outlawed the temple joined the Tendai sect. In 1945 it once again reverted to Shugendo, with a connection to Tendai Shugendo.

The previous post was on the Susanoo Shrine  few kilometers north.

Tanga Daigongen

 

After descending from Shichiga Pass I start to head down a narrow valley towards Yuasa and cannot fail to notice Tanga Daigongen.

Built on a steep slope, the site is a collection of colourful orange metal torii with numerous shrines behind them.

According to the legend, Emperor Shirakawa fell ill at this spot while on a pilgrimage to Kumano and a white-haried old man appeared and helped him, so Shirakawa enshrined him here as Tanga Gongen.

There are several Inari shrines here, and several shrines to Fudo Myo.

The main kami though appears to be Tanga Daigongen which I believe is a manifestation of Kono Zao Gongen, the head deity of Shugendo. Photo 10 is a statue of Kono Zao Gongen.

Photo 9 is of En no Gyoja, the legendary mystic who is said to be the founder of Shugendo and who here is named Shinben Daibosatsu.

Also enshrined here are a Koyasu Daishi, a Tatee Jizo, and an Eleven-Headed Kannon as well as several more kami.

I love these kind of places as they mix so many strands and layers of religious history across all the artificial barriers of sects and schools...

Very "folk" as opposed to so many of the bigger establishments that are overtly political and somewhat sterile.

This was day 7 of my walk on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, said to be the oldest "circuit" pilgrimage in Japan, and still following the Kumano Kodo Kiiji Route at this point.

The previous post was on the route up to the pass. Once I reached Yuasa I jumped ahead by train to Kimiidera Temple.