Rokusho Shrine Ebisudani

 

Rokusho Shrine was once a part of a powerful temple-shrine complex in the high country near the centre of the Kunisaki Peninsula, but is nowadays a bit far off the beaten track to get many visitors.

Ebisudani is one of the 28 valleys that radiate out from the centre of the peninsula that is home to an ancient form of shugendo pilgrimage based on Tendai Buddhism and Usa Hachimangu called Rokugo Manzan.

Ashikaga Takauji visited here in the early 14th century and is said to have planted 6 trees and prayed for victory against Emperor Go-Daigo before eventually starting the Ashikaga Shogunate. Some sources claim these 6 trees to be the ones planted, but they are obviously planted much more recently.

A new trail that roughly follows the old pilgrimage route is called Kunisaki Hanto Minemichi Long Trail, and passes right by here.

The shrine was originally the okunoin of Reisenji Temple. Reisenji and Jisso-in, a sub-temple, are now located immediately adjacent to the shrine following the separation of Buddhas and Kami of early Meiji.

As is fairly usual with these Shugendo-based sites in Kunisaki, they are situated in caves and cliffs of rocky outcroppings.

This Hachiman Shrine is probably a post-meiji addition.

Rockusho is a fairly common name and pretty much means "six kami", although the different Rokusho shrines around the country have different 6 kami.

Here the 6 kami start with Izanagi, and is then followed by Yatomagatsuhi no kami and Ono no kami. This pair were created by Izanagi while purifying after fleeing Yomi. One is said to be the kami of disasters, and the second one who fixes disasters. Tbey may be two aspects of the same kami.

The last set of kami are Umetsuno, Nakatsuno, and Sokotsuno, known collectively as the Sumiyoshi kami. Now associated with the head Sumiyoshi shrine in Osaka, the three kami are originally from northern Kyushu and are connected with sea journeys.

The zuijin here are painted, not statues, something I have seen at other shrines in Kunisaki.

The shrine-temple used to hold the Shujo Onie fire festival, but as a sign of its decline, no longer does.

There is a small group of magaibutsu, Buddhist carvings, that seem to show a couple of monks and a nun. The central figure may well be Nimon, the legendary founder of Rokugo Manzan

The previous post was on neighbouring Jisson-in temple.

Udono Sekibutsu Cliff Carvings

 

Sekibutsu, literally "stone Buddhas" are usually statues, but these are  reliefs carved into stone surfaces, and such are technically magaibutsu.

Sometimes magaibutsu are carved into large boulders, the biggest examples being carved into cliffs, but a common form is carved into the walls of small "caves" formed by overhanging rock.

They are not very common in Japan, but Oita in northern Kyushu is home to the vast majority in Japan.

These near Karatsu in Saga were a big surprise, though not too far away is a modern cliff carving I visited a few days before, the Taikoiwa Fudoson.

The ones here at Udono were said to have been first carved in the 9th century, though these seem to no longer exist. Some were carved as recently as the Edo Period, but the most impressive ones date from the 14th century and include a Kannon, a Fudo Myo, a Bishamonten, and a Jikokuten. In total, there are almost 60.

I discovered these cool carvings quite by accident. I stopped in at the small tourist information office in the station at Ochi and they told me about them. They lent me a free rental bike and let me leave my pack with them while I went to explore them.

As mentioned earlier, Oita is home to the most magaibutsu in Japan, with the Kunisaki area having the biggest, the Kumano Magaibutsu, however the most impressive are down near Usuki and are known as the Usuki Stone buddhas.

The previous post on day 72 of my first walk around Kyushu was on the nearby Kongoji Temple

Taikoiwa Fudoson Magaibutsu

 

The Taikoiwa Fudoson Magaibutsu is a massive cliff-carving of  Fudo Myo carved into a cliff face more than 400 meters above sea level on Mount Kurokami in Saga between Takeo and Arita.

The views down over rural Saga are stupendous.

Mount Kurokami was a center of Shugendo mountain worship since ancient times, though the carving was not made until 1948.

It is about 7 meters tall and at its base is a huge circular mirror.

Cliff carvings are rare in Japan, but the vast majority that do exist are found in nearby Oita.

The Kunisaki peninsula in Oita has many magaibutsu including the Kumano Mgaibutsu which includes another large Fudo. Further south around Usuki are some of the most exquisite magaibutsu in Japan.

The previous post was on the small temple just below the Fudoson.

Middle of the River Fudo Myo

Middle of the River Fudo Myo

Kawanaka Fudo is a large relief carving of Fudo Myo flanked by his two attendants. It is carved into a huge boulder in the Nagaiwaya River in the Kunisali peninsula of Oita in north Kyushu.

I arrived here after climbing down from Choanji  Temple on the morning of my second day walking along an old pilgrimage route around the peninsula that I was following as the start of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo pilgrimage.

Yesterday right at the very start of my walk I visited a much larger cliff carving of Fudo at the Kumano Magaibutsu, magaibutsu being the Japanese word for cliff carving.

This one is much  smaller at only 3 meters in height. Above the riverbank is Tennenji Temple and Misosogi Shrine, a syncretic sacred site typical of the form of shugendo that operated here for centuries.

Rokugo Manzan, the name of the system that was a combination of Usa Hachiman Shinto and Tendai Buddhism, was responsible for the many magaibutsu in the area. Oita has more magaibutsu than any other area of Japan, and the Kunisaki area has the most in Oita. Some of the other ones I visited yesterday can be seen here.

In fact, the whole landscape of the Kunisaki peninsula is inscribed as a mandala. This river valley is one of 28 that radiate out from the centre of the peninsula. The Lotus Sutra contains 28 chapters. There are more than 32,000 Chinese characters in the Lotus Sutra, and it is said that the exact same number of stone statues and cliff carvings were made in this area.

here are a couple of other small magaibutsu  in the vicinity. This area is one of my favorite areas in all of Japan, and typing in "Kunisaki" or clicking any of the tags below will bring up dozens and dozens of posts.

Ramune

More Kunisaki Cliff Carvings

The Motomiya Magaibutsu are a set of Buddhist cliff carvings in the Kunisaki Peninsula. I had started the day at what are believed to be the biggest cliff carvings in Japan, the Kumano Maigaibutsu, and later in the day after visiting the wonderful statuary on display at Makiodo I carried on walking north .

The figure on the left is a Jizo, next to Jikokuten. In the center of the first photo is a Fudo Myo flanked by his two attendants Setakadoji and Kongaradoji. The figure on the far right is Tamonten. It is believed they were all carved in the late Kamakura Period. Oita, and Kunisaki in particular, has the highest concentration of magaibutsu in Japan.

I was on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, and as the first few temples were all located in Kunisaki I took the opportunity to take a longer walk roughly following the old Kunisaki/Hachiman pilgrimage. Kunisaki remains my favorite area in japan because of the remoteness and huge diversity of ancient religious sites.

The Motomiya Magaibutsu are now protected by a roof, but 20 minutes earlier I had visited a smaller set of Magaibutsu, the Daimonbo Magaibutsu, at the ruined site of a former temple. These magaibutsu are still exposed to the elements and are somewhat more eroded. Out of the photo on the left is a small standing Fudo Myo. The figure on the right is said to be Dainichi Nyorai, but no-one seems sure who the central figure is.

Just beyond the site of the ruined temple is a small Inari Shrine. The sheer number of shrines and temples and such in the area is quite staggering. It is said that there are more than 32,000 stone statues of various sizes in the area..... one for each kanji of the Lotus Sutra. It is thought that the Lotus Sitra is "mapped" onto the landscape of the Kunisaki Peninsula.

This was my sixth trip to the area and I was hoping to get to some of the many sites I had long been wanting to visit.....

The Demons Stairway

The Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita remains one of my favorite places in Japan. Taizoji Temple is the starting point of the Kunisaki Minemichi Long Trail, a 135 kilometer trail that roughly follows an old shugendo pilgrimage route. The first group of temples of the Kyushu 36 temple Fudo Myo Pilgrimage are located along, or close to, the trail, so when starting my walk I started from Taizoji.

Behind the temple is a stone stairway eading up the mountainside. Many of the rocks used to construct it are large and it's very much a jumble of uneven rocks because it is said a demon built the stairs in just one night. They lead up to the Kumano Magaibutsu.

Magaibutsu are relief carvings in cliffs or large boulders, and Kunisaki is home to many of them. The Kumano Magaibutsu were carved about a thousand years ago. The largest is of Fudo Myo and is more than 8 meters in height.

The second figure is believed to be Dainichi Nyorai and is more than 6 meters in height. From the magaibutsu the stairs carry on up to a shrine higher up.