Hagio Amida-do Temple 47 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Hagio is a small farming settlement in a mountain valley above Sasaguri in Fukuoka. It is said that the inhabitants are descended from samurai who hid out here and returned to farming after their lord was defested.

I passed through Hagio on the way up the mountainside on the first day of walking the Sasaguri Pilgrimage. There is a cluster of three pilgrimage temples in the village, 2 of which, Raionji, and Yakushido, I had stopped in at on my way up the mountain.

Now on my way down after visiting the group of temples higher up in the mountains centred around Nomiyama Kannonji, I stopped in at the third, Amida-do.

There was a fire in the village back in 1883 that caused the principle Amida statues to break into three pieces and so it was replaced with a new one, though to the right of it the original is still on view.

A little further downhill and the route branches off this road and heads toward the Narafuchi Dam and Sasaguri.

The previous post in this series on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage was Tenno-in temple 36.

Jimyoin Betsuin Temple

 

The Sasaguri Pilgrimage is a miniature version of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage known as Ohenro. All the temples on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage are within the limits of Sasaguri, a town in the mountains east of Hakata, Fukuoka, and the whole route covers about 50 kilometers, yet the walking pilgrim passes by numerous other temples that are not part of the pilgrimage.

Jimyoin Betsuin Temple is one such temple, located along a mountain road to the north of Narufuchi Dam. We visited on our way down the mountain late in the afternoon of the 1st day walking the pilgrimage after having already visited more than twenty temples.

A Betsuin is a direct branch temple, and this one seems to be a branch of a Jimyoin Temple near Nanzoin further east. It is unstaffed and there was little information though it does appear to be relatively new.

What is known is that the temple belongs to the Shingon sect and has a Daishi-do, Yakushi-do, and across the road a Kannon-do.

The main hall enshrines the honzon, a Fudo Myo, and I will cover it and the many other Fudo statues in the grounds in the next post.

Photo 3 shows, I believe, an Aizen Myo, and the statues in photo 4 very much look in what seems to be Korean-style.

Photo 5 is probably Bishamonten, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the one most likely found alone without the other three. I'm not sure of the dragon in photo 6, but it looks a lot like Kurikara, the dragon representing the sword of Fudo Myo, except it is usually shown wrapped around a sword.

Photo 7 is the Shichifukujin, the Seven Lucky Gods. Have no idea what photo 8 is although its meaning seems somewhat obvious. Photo 9 is the Nio guardians from the rear looking across the road to the Yakushi-do.

The previous post in this series on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage was on the small  Hagio Amida-do we visited a little higher up the mountain road.

Kichijoji, Tokoin, Jishoin, & Sanboin

 

Kichijoji, Tokoin, Jishoin, and Sanboin, are a cluster of small temples/chapels along a narrow mountain lane above Sasaguri near Fukuoka.

I stopped in after carrying on up the road after visiting Raionji, Hagio yakushido, and Hagio Amidado, a small cluster of three temples in the mountain hamlet of Hagio. All three were temples on the Sasaguri 88 temple pilgrimage.

This new cluster of 4 temples was not officially part of the pilgrimage.

5 and a half hours into walking the pilgrimage and we had already visited 15 temples that were officially part of the 88 and had seen hundreds and hundreds of amazing statues.....

These three temples were no different, each with many statues, a lot being Fudo Myo.

I would hesitate a guess that this small pilgrimage of only 50 kilometers meandering around the mountains near Sasaguri has the highest density of Fudo Myo statues of anywhere in the world....

Of all the pilgrimages I have walked in Japan, my guess is that the Sasaguri one is the one that has the highest percentage of pilgrims walking rather than driving....

Even so, I'm not sure how many stop in at these non-official temples.....

Japan Goods

Sasaguri Pilgrimage Temples 37 & 69

Temple 37 of the Sasaguri Pilgrimage was just 20 meters from the previous temple, number 21, Takada Kokuzo-do. Takada Amida-do looked like a shed but inside was a small shrine with a bark roof. This was originally in the grounds of the local Tenjin Shrine. It houses a small statue of Amida Nyorai. Outside was a small structure with a group of stone statues.

The next temple was number 69, Takada Kannon-do. This was the 4th temple we visited on the pilgrimage and by now we had walked almost a whole kilometer.

Like the previous three temples there were numerous statues outside the small hall, imcluding this Fudo Myo.

The main statue was a Kannon. As should be obvious, the temples are not numbered sequentially, and we started from the most common starting point, Sasaguri Station, rather than from temple 1. For those who want to try a pilgrimage the Sasaguri one I would very highly recommend
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Shurin-ji Temple 35 on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage

Shurin-ji is a small temple in Sasaguri, but it was the largest temple so far on my first day walking the Sasaguri Pilgrimage. It was the only one so far that was big enough to have a priest's home. It belongs to the Jodo, Pure Land,  sect, and its honzon is Amida

However, the part of the temple that is the site for the pilgrimage is a small shrine in the grounds called Yakushi-do, which houses this statue of Yakushi Nyorai, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. Temple 35 on the Shikoku pilgrimage has Yakushi as its honzon, so the corresponding number 35 here in Sasaguri is the same.

There is also a small Kannon-do housing a nice Kannon statue and several other statues in the grounds.

This one has been adorned with a traditional pilgrim hat.

I have no idea who this statue represents but it could be a rakan, a disciple of the historical Buddha.

Tenno-in Temple 36 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Tenno-in, number 36 on the 88 temple Sasaguri Pilgrimage, like its counterpart on Shikoku, Shoryuji Trmple, enshrines Fudo Myoo.

Specifically, the honzon is a Namikiri Fudo, a "wave^cutting" Fudo. According to the legend, on his return journey from China in 806,  the boat Kobo Daishi was in was in danger of being sunk by stormy seas but was saved by prayers to Fudo.

The main Fudo statue in the main hall is "hidden" but, as with most of these Sasaguri temples, numerous Fudo statues can be found around the grounds.

Tenno-in is a sub-temple of Nomiyama Kannonji, a large complex of temples and sub temples including Gokurakuojoin and an unrelated temple Mizuko Monjuin, located high in the mountains to the north of Sasaguri.

Tenno-in has some large buildings, including a guesthouse. It is said that the main hall is the largest main hall of all 88 temples on the pilgrimage. It was built in 1973. The origunal Tenno-in was at Koyasan but had been demolished and inactive since the late 19th century.

Tenno-in has a large Hydrangea Garden and the grounds are planted with lots of Japanese Maple so is ablaze with color in the autumn. It also has a small zen garden and teahouse.

From here the pilgrimage route heads down the mountains following a different route than the one taken on the ascent. The previous post in this series was Gokurakuojoin Temple.

Goto Falls Bato Kannon Temple 70 Sasaguri pilgrimage

 

Temple 70 on the Sasaguri pilgrimage is located in the valley above Narafuchi Dam.

Just above the temple is Goto Falls which was not particularly impressive, at least when I visited.

However, being a waterfall there was an abundance of Fudo Myo statues.

The honzon is a Bato Kannon, a "Horse-head Kannon" and there were also multip Bato Kannon statues.

As with its equivalent temple on Shikoku, this is the only temple on the pilgrimage with a Bato Kannon as a honzon.

According to the legend, a long time ago (probably the Edo era) horses and cattle in the area fell ill and it was discovered that pollution from the Kuroda Clan gunpowder factory had poisoned the river, so  a Bato Kannon statue was erected.

My reason for suggesting Edo period is that the Kuroda were the clan controlling Fukuoka at that time.

Along the path to the waterfall are lots of other statues, not just Bato Kannon and Fudo Myo.

The previous post in this series on day 1 of my walk along the delightful Sasaguri pilgrimage was on the Fudo Myo statues at the previous temple, Jimyoin.