Kokokuji Temple Izumo

 

Kokokuji Temple is a Rinzai Zen temple founded in 1322.

It is located at the foot of the mountains that run along the Shimane Peninsula from the Izumo Taisha area.

Funding and support was provided by local nobleman Misawa Yasukuni.

The monk who founded it, Sanko Kokushi, also founded Unjuji Temple further east in the Yasugi area.

The temple may have fallen into disuse, but was revived and expanded in the late 18th century by Zen Master Setsun.

He is said to have started work on the garden, but it was his successor, Zen Master Toko who brought the garden to fruition by hiring Sawa Gentan.

The garden is the only thing that te vast majority of sources talk about

However there are some nice statues, paintings, and kote-e...

The honzon is a statue of Shaka Nyorai, the Japanese name for the historical Buddha Sakyamuni.

The garden, which is highly rated among afficianados, is covered in my previous post.

Kokokuji is a little off the beaten track, though it is not far from Hirata.

If you are heading to Gakuenji Temple, a magnificent place itself, then you drive right past Kokokuji.

Of course, if you are that far off the beaten track then nearby Karakama Shrine is a must visit.

The previous post was on the Zen garden here.

The Garden at Kokokuji Temple

 

The top ranked garden in Japan, according to the Journal of Japanese Gardening, is consistently the Adachi Museum Gardens in Shimane.

Other gardens in Shimane are in the list of top Japanese gardens, including this one at Kokuji Temple near Hirata in the Izumo area.

In 2005 it was ranked 8th, and in 2006 it was ranked 12th.

And yet it is barely known and rarely visited.

Kokokuji is a Rinzai temple founded in the 14th century.

The garden, however, was created in the early 19th century.

It is a relatively small garden consisting primarily of a dry garden with Kinkyoike, a small resevoir behind it.

The borrowed scenery is completed with Mount Tabushi and the Kitayama mountains behind.

The garden was designed by Sawa Gentan, the gardener employed by the great Tea Master Fumai Matsudaira who ruled the Matsue Domain.

Many other gardens in the area are said to have been designed by Sawa Gentan, including the magnificent ones at Hirata Honjin, literally just a couple of kilometers away. Several gardens at the Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum, and the Gesshoji Temple Garden are also attributed to Fumai and Gentan

The small entrance fee to view the garden includes a green tea and sweet, photo 3 above.

This, and many other gardens in the region are known as Izumo Style, and sometimes Gentan Style.

One of the features of Izumo style is that the stepping stones are a combination of round and rectangular.

Another feature mentioned by many is that an Izumo style garden will be a combination of a traditional garden and a Teahouse garden.

Hidden away on the right hand side of the garden here is a teahouse, and the stone path leads to it.

There are a lot of other gardens in the Matsue and Izumo region, including many I have not covered yet. If yiu are interested please let me know. Yuushien, Meimei-an Teahouse, Lafcadio Hearns House, Yakumo Honjin, and the several already mentioned earlier, are just a few already covered...

Next I will cover Kokokuji Temple itself....

Shinkoin Temple 106 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

ShinkoinTemple has an elegant, wooden main hall, though being a fairly modern temple.

It is situated directly on the coast of Fukuoka in the area known as Itoshima.

The temple moved here recently in 1989, prior to that it was in Fukuoka City, and prior to that it was in Sasaguri, where it was founded in the Taisho Period (1912-1926)

The honzon of the temple is an unusual one that don't remember ever hearing about before, Daizuiku Bosatsu.

Unusual in being a female Buddhist deity, as is often, with roots in Hinduism. Known for offering protection and for granting the wishes of all. Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and Ishiteji Temple in Osaka, both have statues of her.

There is also a Wave-Citting Fudo Myo enshrined along with the other four Myoo.

There are several small sone Fudo's in the grounds as well.

There are several shrines in the grounds including the temple guardian, Kiyotaki Daigongen, and also an Otsuna Daimyojin. The grounds have some nice landscaping and gardens.

The previous post was on Kumonohara Shrine in Karatsu.

Art of Hashikuraji Temple

 

Hashikuraji is a mountain temple in the mountains that border Tokushima and Kagawa on Shikoku.

It was the "inner temple" of Konpira-san, once a major pilgrimage destination in its own right, and since Meiji Konpira became a shrine.

While not all temples have komainu guardian statues, Kashikuraji has quite a few. It also has several shinto torii gates. The top photo is the older type of komainu, wooden and kept indoors.

There are also plenty of carvings adorning the buildings at Hashikuraji. In fact when I was there I noticed free worksheets for kids available at the temple that encouraged kids to explore and find all the examples of animals, including mythical ones, at the temple.

Hashikuraji was a major centre for Shugendo and yamabushi and so has a pair of big wooden Tengu masks.

As is fairly typical, there was a pair, one of the long-nosed Tengu, and one of the Karasu Tengu with beak;

The honzon of the temple is a Konpira Daigongen, though it is a secret buddha and the last four generations of head priest have not even seen it.

There are a few statues scattered around the rounds though.

One of the newer ones is a Bokefuji Kannon. prayed to for protection from dementia and Alzeimers, this is a new version of Kannon that is becoming very common. Typically the standing Kannon will have a small, elderly couple at its feet.

There is a large outdoor altar to Fudo Myoo, and in fact this was what I had come here for, while walking the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the temple buildings and the temples history.