Showing posts with label Fudo Myojin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fudo Myojin. Show all posts

Friday, March 15, 2024

Ohashi Natural Bridge

 


If you follow the path up behind Ohashi Kannonji Temple you arrive at the Ohashi itself.


Formed when the roof of a cave collapsed, the natural bridge is about 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide and is split into two sections for most of it.


Scattered around the cliffs underneath it are numerous statues, the biggest being a Fudo Myo.


The community of ferns growing here is quite unusual and is registered as a National Natural Monument.


The natural bridge was one of the historic Hirado Hakkei, the "eight scenic views of Hirado Domain"


Unlike the American Southwest where the natural bridges and arches can be seen dramatically, here in Japan the dense vegetation makes them less than  impressive, but the biggest one in Japan, Onbashi in Hiroshima, is actually quite impressive.


The previous post in this series on day 68 of my walk around Kyushu was on the Ohashi Kannon Temple.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Ohashi Kannon Temple 75 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 


The main building of Ohashi Kannonji is a modern, concrete affair, but because of its proportions it is quite elegant.


The main statue is a Kannon, but to the left is a lovely Fudo, and to the right is an Inari, or maybe a Dakiniten, which unusually has a coiled snake.


According to the temple legend the honzon, an eleven-faced Kannon was carved by Gyoki in the 7th century, so yet another temple in the area that claims a connection to Gyoki.


Nearby is an older hall and the priest's residence.


Among the many statues dotting the grounds is a triad consisting of a central Fudo flanked by a statue of Kannon and a Kobo Daishi.


As well as being on the Kyushu 88/108 pilgrimage, the temple is also on a couple of Kannon pilgrimages.


Ohashi means "Big bridge" and refers to a natural stone bridge in the cliff behind the temple. It deserves its own post which will be next.


The previous post in this series chronicling day 68 of my walk was on the small shrine down below the temple. The previous temple was Saifukuji, a few kilometers upstream and on the opposite side of the valley. It also had a natural bridge.


Friday, March 1, 2024

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.


Thursday, February 29, 2024

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.


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Great Fudo at Saikoji Temple

 


This Daifudoson statue is located at Totakesan Saiko-ji Temple in the high country north of Sasebo, Nagasaki.

It is actually located in its own car parking area across the road from the temple grounds as it is known for traffic safety due to the inscription which says "Turn great hardships into small hardships, and small hardships into safety".

Saikoji is a Shingon temple and is number 73 on the Kyushu pilgrimage.


On the altar underneath the statue are several more, smaller Fudo statues.


I have been unable to find out any details about the statue.....I will post more on Saikoji next....


The previous post in this series was on Norito Shrine.






Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Tozenji Temple 74 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Tozenji Temple, number 74 on the Shingon Kyushu pilgrimage, is in Nakazatacho, a rural community north of Sasebo in Nagasaki.


On the previous day's walk I visited temple 66, also called Tozenji, to the east of Sasebo.


The temple was established here in 968, but its origin can be said to lie almost three hundred years earlier in tye very early 8th century when the famous mink Gyoki visited the area and carved a statue of yakushi Nyorai.


That statue was enshrined on top of the mountain in what is now the temples Okunoin and the statue is the honzon of the temple.


I visited very early in the morning and there was no one about so I didn't go inside and see the statue.


The temple grounds are dominated by a huge Camphor tree.


Thought to be 600 years old, this ancient tree has a trunk circumference of 8 meters and is twenty meters high.


The previous post was about the first temple I visited on this, the 67th day of my walk, Korin-in.