Fudoin Temple 6 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Friday, December 23rd, 2016, the start of day 5 of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

The first 4 days I had walked up the Yoshino River in Tokushima along the north bank, and now I was heading back downriver along the south bank.

First stop was Temple 6 of the pilgrimage, Fudo-in, still within Miyoshi City, and pretty much directly opposite Temple number 4, Hashikura, on the mountain slope on the opposite bank.

In the grounds is a Fudo Myoo, a Mizuko Jizo, and a Kannon. The temple is also number 17 on the Awa Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

It is a fairly modern temple, being established in 1897 and built in 1902. It is a Shingon temple and the honzon is a Fudo Myoo.

It is said to have been carved in the early 12th century by the monk Kakuban, who separated from Koyasan and founded the Negoroji Temple, where he is buried.

The statue and the temple name were transferred from a temple down below Koyasan in Wakayama. In early Meiji it was illegal to establish new temples so many temples were "transferred" from other places where they may have been abandoned or fallen into disuse.

I am not sure when it became legal to establish new temples, but I reem to remember quite a few temples Ive visited being set up by finding an abandoned one in another part of the country and transferring the name.

Inside the main hall.

The Fudo Myoo honzon said to be carved by Kakuban.

The previous post in this series was on the suspension bridge a little ways upstream.

Asaharasan Anyoji Temple

 

Anyoji Temple is located just below Asahara Pass in the mountains between Kurashiki and Soja.

It was a large and important temple complex in earlier times and is now a little off any of the main tourist routes.

Its origins lie in the late 8th century when it is said Kobo Daishi performed ceremonies here before he travelled to China. Many sources suggest the involvement of a legendary mink, Hoon Daishi, who is said to have founded 48 temples in what is now the Okayama area, including Kinzanji 

The honzon of Anyoji is Bishamonten, and many statues of him, at least 42 I believe.

In the 11th century, when the temple was very powerful, 100 life-size statues of Bishamonten were carved. Some of the surviving ones are on display in the Jogando.

One of the pair of Nio guardians in front of the temple bell. Weighing about 11 tons is said to be the biggest temple bell in the Chugoku and Shikoku region.

During the height of its power quite a few high-ranking monks served here.

In 1201 the temple converted from Tendai to Shingon.

Many treasures have been excavated from sutra mounds built behind the temple in the 11th century.

A castle stood on the mountain not far from the temple complex and in 1336 much of the huge temple complex was destroyed in a battle between the Northern and Southern Courts.

The temple was rebuilt and continued to be an important centre.

In 1667 the temples surrounding Anyoji were closed down by the anti-Buddhist policy of the ruling Ikeda Clan. Perhaps Anyoji was spared because of its syncretic nature?

There is a lot to see at Anyoji. In previous posts I have covered the 

"floating" Dragon Kannon Hall

The Seven Lucky Gods

The Pagoda

The Teahouse.

More recently,

 the Tie-Cutting Fudo Myoo 

and Bishamonten statues nd other Treasures

In Japan Bishamnten has become associated with the Tiger because of a legend about Shotoku Taishi.

The main hall has a shimenawa and there are multiple Torii in the grounds, indicating this is a syncretic site where distinctions between Buddhism nd Shinto are blurred. In the Daishido, photo below, is a statue of Zao Gongen, protector of the mountain, and the main deity of the syncretic Shugendo.

The new Daishi-do was under construction when I visited but opened in 2018.

Inside the main hall.

Possibly this is a small sculpture of Fukurokuju, one of the Seven Lucky Gods.

The photo below is of what is now called Susano Shrine, though earlier it was known as Gion-sha and Gozu Tenno-sha. It was established here in the late 9th century.

Yamate Kannondo Temple 52 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Day 2 of our walk along the magnificent Sasaguri Pilgrimage began where it had ended the day before, at Chikuzen-Yamate Station.

Temple 52 is easily noticed by the unusual tall structure. Included at the site is the Watatake Inari Daimyojin Shrine.

Next to it is the tall structure with a tall painting.

The painting is of  a fairly young Kobo Daishi and was the result of an old monk named Mori Jundo who sat by the roadside and begged for donations from passers-by around 1949-1952. 

Like all the other little "temples" on the pilgrimage there is a large, eclectic collection of small statuettes of a range of Buddhas and Kami.

The honzon is an Eleven-faced Kannon, although I believe the one now is a newer relacement of the original stone one which is also on display.

There are also quite a few statues of Fudo Myoo, in fact, as I have mentioned before, I have never encoubtered so many Fudo statues as here in Sasaguri...

The previous post was on the last two temples of day one, both very close to ths one.

Ryujindo at Anyoji Temple

 

Anyoji is a large, ancient temple complex in the mountains north of Kurashiki and south of Soja in Okayama.

In front of the temple is a large irrigation pond with a "floating" building that in many other places would be for Benzaiten.

Here it is a Ryujindo, or Dragon Hall enshrining a Ryuzu Kannon.

Ryuzu or Ryuto Kannon is known in English as the Dragon Head Kannon and is one of the traditional 33 forms of kannon in Japan and probably came from China. Ryzuzu Kannon is sometimes depicted riding a dragon, but never depicted with a dragon head, unlike the Horsehead Kannon,Bato Kannon, which is sometimes depicted wearing a horsehead hat,

Anyoji Temple was a big surprise to me and I took a lot of photos so will do several more posts on it ...

The previous post in this series on day 7 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on nearby Karube Shrine, famous for its breast ema.