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.

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.

Sangenyama Toko-ji Temple 67 Kyushu pilgrimage

 

Tokoji, temple 67 on the Kyushu pilgrimage is located in the basin down below Mount Kurokami in the mountains between Arita and Takeo in Saga.

According to the temples history it was founded as a branch temple of number 69, Saikomitsuji, when it was founded by Kobo Daishi in the early 9th century upon his return from China.

It flourished as a shrine-temple complex for mountain ascetics.

It enshrined Kurokami Daigongen, gongen being Buddhist avatars of kami.

It was destroyed by fire but rebuilt in 1547 with a Yakushi Nyorai as honzon.

The temple is number 37 on the Kyushu Yakushi pilgrimage.

The temple received support from the local daimyo.

In 1868 Shugendo was outlawed, the guardian shrine was moved to another site, and the temple fell into disuse and disrepair.

It was revived sometime in the twentieth century.

There are many Mizuko Jizo in the grounds, and in the main hall is a small Kannoin statue said to be worshiped by Hidden Christians during the Edo period.

The previous post was on the nearby Mudo-in temple.

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.

Tsurugake Kannon Saifukuji Temple 76 Kyushu pilgrimage

 

Saifukuji Temple, number 76 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, is located on a mountainside overlooking the Sasa River north of Sasebo, Nagasaki.

The road up to the temple was a long gentle slope, for which I was grateful. The biggest building was a very large, modern house, I'm guessing the priest's residence.

A small main hall had a statue of Kobo Daishi standing outside it.

There were rows of Mizuko Jizo lining the approach.

The most interesting thing was the okunoin of the temple, a cave in the cliff behind the main hall.

It is said that the cave had been used by yamabushi, mountain ascetics, since the Heian Period.

It is actually not really a cave anymore as the ceiling has collapsed, leaving a stone bridge, or arch.

There were many small altars within the okunoin, and, not surprisingly,  a predominance of Fudo statues.

The temple itself is actually not so old, being founded in the late Meiji Period, but its origins go back a bit further.

At the end of the 16th century was the Warring States Period was coming to a close, a battle took place here between two rival clans.

In the late 18th century the Hirado Lord laced 5 statues on the mountain, including a Kannon, as a prayer memorial to the samurai who had died. Over time the statues were forgotten and buried by landslides.

In 1894, a local man, a devout worshipper of Kannon, became mortally ill and had a vision showing where the statues were buried. His family dug in the spot and found the statues, including the Eleven-Faced Kannon which is the honzon of Saifukuji. The man was miraculously healed and the Kannon has become famous ever since.

The previous post was on the Sechibaru Coal Mine Museum at the foot of the mountain.