Inari Shrine, Kiyomizudera

Kiyomizudera, like most religious sites in traditional Japan, worshipped buddhas and kami, they were shrine-temple complexes, so its not unusual to find shrines in the grounds of a temple. Kiyomizudera has an Inari shrine.

Of course, wherever you find an Inari shrine you find foxes, the messengers of Inari.

All the kitsune (foxes) at Kiyomizudera wore vermillion scarves on their heads.

Officially, by government decree, Inari is now equated with Ukanomitama, an offspring of Susano and connected with food. The head shrine of Inari is the famous Fushimi Inari near Kyoto founded by the powerful immigrant clan the Hata. Inari shrines are the most common shrines in all of Japan and its identity has many facets, including Dakini, a buddhist deity with Hindu and Tantric roots.

Kiyomizudera

Kiyomizu means "pure, clear water" and refers to the founding legend of the temple and the water found here. There are a lot of Kiyomizuderas in Japan, the most famous being the one in Kyoto, but this one is one of the oldest if not the oldest temple with the name, being founded in 587.

Located in the hills near Yasugi, close to the border with Tottori, the temple disappeared and was refounded in the ninth century, though nothing here now dates from anywhere near that time as the temple and the whole mountain was reduced to ash during a war between the Amago and Mori Clans in the 16th Century.

There is the only 3-story pagoda in the San-in region, and unusually, it is open to the public for a small fee. If one can navigate the steep stairs inside one is rewarded with views across the surrounding countryside.

The temple belongs to the Tendai Sect, and is one of the temples on the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as well as the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Fudo Myo & Nio: Kiyomizudera

A couple of weeks ago we drove up to visit some old, important, temples. Each of them had a pair of Nio guardian statues, and each temple had strong histories of Shugendo, so each of them had statues of Fudo Myo-O. The first we visited was Kiyomizudera in Yasugi, not to be confused with the more famous temple of the same name in Kyoto.

 

Kiyomizudera in Shimane was founded in 587 more than 200 years before the one in Kyoto. I find myself becoming more and more fascinated by Fudo Myo statues..... partly because of their variety, and partly through their locations connected to ascetic practices of the Shugenja

 

The Niomon (Guardian Gate) was in an unusual location above and behind the main temple, not where one would expect it at the entrance to the temple. I thought it was maybe placed to the NE of the temple to offer protection from that most inauspicious direction, but checking the map said no. Maybe the original entrance was facing in a different direction.

 

Sculpturally they were not particularly sophisticated Nio statues, but the faded paintwork suggests they would have originally been quite impressive.

 

As is often the case, the Niomon was decorated with a huge pair of Waraji (straw sandals)