Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 36 Shoryuji

Shoryuji, temple 36 of the Ohenro Pilgrimage, is fairly remote and one of the temples less-visited by tourists rather than pilgrims.

It is also one of the prettiest, noticeably with two pagodas.

Located at the tip of the long and narrow Yokonami Peninsula, there is now a bridge across the narrow, 400 meter wide opening into the Uranouchi Bay between the peninsula and mainland, but in earlier times a ferry crossing was necessary.

The temple was founded by Kobo Daishi in about 815 and is named after the temple he studied at in Tang China.

In 806, just before leaving China to return to Japan, he threw a Vajra towards Japan.

Called Tokko in Japanese, a vajra is a kind of ritual weapon known as a thunderbolt.

He wanted to find a site to establish a temple, and in 806 while travelling in this area he discovered the vajra lodged in a pine tree.

He received permission from Emperor Saga to found the temple.

The honzon is a stone Namikiri Fudo Myoo, said to be carved by Kobo Daishi himself.

Shoryuji prospered and grew and became one of the seven biggest temples in Tosa, the former name of Kochi.

It had four branch temples and six associate temples.

By the start of the Edo Period it had fallen into disrepair but was rebuilt by the second Tosa Daimyo, Yamauchi Tadayoshi in the mid 17th century.

It was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1707 and was rebuilt by the end of the Edo Period.

A narrow road lined with statues ( photos 4 & 8) leads from the coast up the valley to the lower part of the temple with a Tahota style pagoda.

Behind it a three storey pagoda and steps leading up to the Nio gate with a fine pair of weathered Nio.

A small waterfall with Fudo statue is used for training.

At the main temple there is the main hall, Daishido, Yakushido, and a Hakusan Shrine.

600 meters further through the woods is the Okunoin.

The grounds of the temple are very pleasant especially in Autumn Colours, and has groves of bamboo.

There are also several landscaped areas and small gardens.

Usually not crowded, a great place to spend a few hours rather than just rush through.

The previous temple on the pilgrimage is number 35, Kiyotakiji.

I posted earlier about the walk from the previous temple to here, Kiyotakiji to Shoryuji.

The Weird & Wonderful Folk Statues of Takanabe Daishi

On a hill overlooking Takanabe on the Miyazaki coast are a strange collection of large and small statues. Some of them are Buddhist deities, and some are Kami.

They were the creation of a local man who was concerned about the spirits of the deceased in a series on ancient burial mounds nearby. He employed a sculptor to carve a set of statues, and then after having watched him at work he set about creating his own unique statues and devoted the rest of his life to it.

They are quite primitive and unsophisticated in their execution, but therein lies their charm. At times looking like Native American totem poles, at other like the Easter Island statues, but most of all they are child-like.

For more photos and a lot more information please check out this longer article I wrote

Drowned Buddhas

Tadaji, an old temple in the hills outside Hamada has a rather strange collection of wooden statues in their main hall.

They were fished out of the sea on the coast down below the temple, and had obviously spent some time in the water. More than likely they had been thrown into the sea, or a river, during the Haibutsu Kishaku, the "destroy Buddhism" campaign in the late 19th Century.

The campaign was officially rescinded, and many areas did not really go along with it, but some places went for it with a vengeance. The Oki Islands, for instance, destroyed every single Buddhist temple.

Experts say some of these statues probably date from the Kamakura Period and so are quite old. The current along the coast comes from the west so these statues were put in the water further west, down in Yamaguchi or somewhere near there......

Fudo Myo at Takanabe Daishi

On the 21st day of my walk along the KyushuPilgrimage I started out near Takanabe, Miyazaki at a place I had been really been looking forward to visiting.

Takanabe Daishi is a big collection of mostly unusual statues on a hilltop overlooking the town. The statues include some kami and many Buddhas and other Buddhist deities, and included were quite a few of Fudo Myo.

Many of the statues were carved by a fairly skilled sculptor, but the most interesting ones were done by the local man who had hired the sculptor and they really are quite fascinating and unusual.

I will post more photos of the other kami and Buddhas later, but you can read more details in the article I wrote for Japanvisitor here. For now here are just ones that include Fudo Myo.

Takada Kokuzo-do

The Sasaguri Pilgrimage, like the Kyushu Pilgrimage, does not have a lot of big, grand temples. It does have a lot of interesting and surprising one though. Most of the "temples" are too small to have a resident priest, and are more what could be described as "chapels. One thing they do all have though is statuary, especially Fudo Myo.

Temple 21, but the second to visit if you start at Sasaguri Sation, is just such a temple. With 88 temples within only 50k of walking, the distance between temples is often measured in meters rather than kilometers. Takada Kokuzo-do was onky 5 minutes from the previous temple and less than a minute to the next.

There was a Jizo in a little hut, and a couple of Fudo Myo's in the grounds. The Honzon is Kokuzo Bosatsu, not one of the more well-known Bodhisattvas.

It is however the deity that Kobo Daishi prayed to while training as a young man at Mount Tairyuji and Cape Muroto. In the small temple a statue of Kobo Daishi flanks the honzon

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 36 Kansenji

There are many different reasons for doing a pilgrimage. Among my reasons, one is to explore, discover, & learn. On the 108 temple Kyushu Pilgrimage I walked there was not a lot of famous temples like on the Shikoku Pilgrimage or the Saigoku Pilgrimage.

There were also lots of surprises, like Gyoshinji, the temple I had visited a few hours earlier, but there were also lots of run-of-the-mill, small temples with no great architecture or gardens, like Kansenji.

It is rare to find somewhere that does not have something interesting for me to learn. Kansenji had quite a few statues, but one, in particular, struck me. It was of Kobo Daishi, the focus of this and many other pilgrimages in Japan, unusually holding a baby.

This is a Koyasu Daishi and is related to a story from the 61st temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage where Kobo Daishi met a pregnant woman having a difficult and painful birth. He prayed for her and the result was a successful birth, so this temple is a popular place for expectant mothers to visit.

Return to Round Windows

For some reason, posts of round windows have always been popular, and as all of my old blog posts are now missing photos because I left a particular photo hosting site I thought I would post some recent photos.

The first one is from the former residence of Japans 26th prime Minister Tanaka Giichi, in Hagi Yamaguchi. The second is from Shoji-ji Temple in the Oharano district of Kyoto.

This third one is from the Jippotei, a collection of traditional buildings in YamaguchiCity.

The last 2 are from the former Yoshimatsu Residence in Kushima, Kagoshima.

More Statues at Gyoshinji

Gyoshinji, the 35th temple on the Kyushu Pilgrimage had a large collection of statues lining the forest path that leads to a waterfall used for ascetic training. Reclining Buddhas are not very common in Japan.

I didn't realize until later that the 88 statues represented the honzons of the 88 main temples on the pilgrimage. If I had known I would have paid more attention.

I am getting better at recognizes the different buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities and characters that one finds statues of, but there are so many of them and each may have many variations.

This final one is a complete mystery to me as the hairstyle is ancient Japanese and the figure looks female..... anyone have any ideas?