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.

Enmeiji Temple 54 Shikoku Ohenro

 

The Mountain Gate into Enmeiji Temple near Imabari in Ehime was relocated here from Imabari Castle when it was dismantled in early Meiji.

The Nio Gate before the mountain gate contains a fine pair of Nio.

The temple used to be located higher up on Mount Chikamiyama and was relocated to its current location in 1727 following the last of many fires that had repeatedly burned down the temple

The honzon of the temple is a Fudo Myo, and it is known as a Fire Fighting Fudo because it survived the many fires unscathed.

The temple was founded by Gyoki in 720 and he carved the Fudo statue.

As was often the case, Kobo Daishi visited a century later and rebuilt and expanded the temple.

In its heyday, it had many buildings and 100 monks.

It was named Fudoin Enmyoji, and this caused many problems because the previous temple, number 53, was also called Enmyoji, so in Meiji it was renamed Enmeiji.

A Mizuko Jizo statue in the grounds is very popular. The temple has no lodgings, but does have a large shop selling pilgrim supplies.

The previous temple is Enmyoji, number 53, 37 kilometers away in Matsuyama.

The Views From The Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge

 

The Kurushima Kaikyo Suspension Bridge(s) are the last of the bridges on the Shimanami Kaido, the road that connects Honshu with Shikoku across a series of island-hopping bridges. A post about this amazing structure I posted earlier.

The views across the island -studded Inland Sea are great from any highish point and the bridges tend to get quite high, so.........

The Inland Sea was once the major transportation route of Japan, and it is still a very busy waterway so you can look down on many boats and ships.

As you approach Shikoku, Imabari is clearly seen to the SE.

A Walk from Honshu to Shikoku Day 3

I woke at first light and was already over the bridge onto Oshima when the sun came up. My route took me along the coast a little before pretty much heading straight through the middle of the island. the current running along the coast was very, very strong. There were a couple of shrines to visit along the 10k route, but not much else.

At the southern end of the island I came to the final section, the triple Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, three connected suspension bridges that together make the longest suspension bridge structure in the world. The bridges are a hair over 4k long, but with the long, windy, access path for cyclists is closer to 7k.

The views from the height of the bridges were stupendous.... it helped that the weather was glorious...

I got to Shikoku around noon. There were a surprisingly large number of people walking over the bridges....

It had taken me 3 days to walk the 70k..... actually an afternoon, a long day, and a morning, so it could be walked in 2 days, but 4 days would be better to give time to explore.....