Temples around Hakusan Station

In Bunkyō-ku 文京区 around Hakusan station 白山駅 there is a seamlessly endless number of temples. Along the route I took statues of Jizō-bisatsu 地蔵菩薩 were particularly numerous.

Jizō statue for the mizuko (miscarried and aborted infants) with ita-tōba 板塔婆 (“plank stūpa”). On each of these wooden grave tablets Jizō is invoked, followed by the name of a family that lost a mizuko and the time of issuing e.g. O-bon お盆 (or urabon 盂蘭盆), Segakie 1 spring equinox or autumn equinox.Note how the Buddhist Jizō statues stand peacefully alongside the Shintoist (probably for the deity Inari 稲荷) shrine.

 Jizō-bosatsu

Kannon-bosatsu 観音菩薩

Some typical Japanese graves. The pillar in the middle usually carries the family name and the family crest. To the left and the right, you can see metal vases which are attached to the grave itself for flower offerings, in the middle a basin for water and a metal grid for burning incense underneath. It is common for Japanese graves to contain the ashes of more than one person of the same family. 

Boke-Jizō ぼけ地蔵. Judging by the name, this statue is most likely prayed to by elderly people who are afraid to grow senile.

Another typical Japanese family grave at Eishō-in 榮松院 (a temple belonging to the Pure Land sect). Behind the grave you can see the ita-tōba I mentioned earlier. This time Amida 阿弥陀 is invoked on top (“Namu Amida-butsu” or a Siddhaṃ character symbolising him) as the graveyard belongs to the Pure Land school.

O-Mitsu-Jizō お美津地蔵. Apparently, this Jizō statue was enshrined by parents who lost a child at sea.

A stūpa with the inscription “三界萬霊”, literally “ten thousand spirits of the three worlds”, actually meaning “all the souls of the three realms of existence (past, present and future)”.

The Komagome Dai-Kannon 駒込大観音, an enormous statue of the Eleven-headed Kannon in a rather modern looking building.

Concrete Thousand-armed Kannon (statues of this manifestation of Kannon rarely actually have a thousand arms, but with its mere twenty-four arms this statue looks more modest than usual).

A common view on Japanese graveyards: a Kannon statue and six aligned Jizō statues, one for each of the six realms (rokudō 六道).

A very small Shintoist shrine called Akiba-jinja 秋葉神社 between two residences.

                                                       Tenei-ji 天榮寺 (Pure Land Sect)

Tokugenzen-in 徳源禅院 (Rinzai 臨済 sect of Zen). Note the garden which gives away the fact that this is a Zen temple. On the last picture there is a sign that indicates there is a tea ceremony going on.

Jōtoku-ji 常徳寺(Pure Land sect) 

It is somewhat hard to see, but this picture shows an Amida triad (Amida-sanzon 阿弥陀三尊) which consists of the three beings that are said to come down to earth to welcome followers of Amida at the moment of death (来迎 raigō): the Buddha Amida himself and the two bodhisattva’s Seishi 勢至 en Kannon.

 Notes:

1 For more information on Segakie, please refer to my blog entry from July 2012 titled “Segakie in Gokoku-ji”. 

Further reading on the bodhisattva Jizō and mizuko:

LaFleur, William R. (1992) Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

O-eshiki

Between the 16^th and the 18^th of 2012, the yearly memorial service for Nichiren 日蓮, the founder of the Nichiren sect, were held at Kishibojin 鬼子母神 temple in Zōshigaya 雑司ヶ谷. The o-eshiki お会式, as this ceremony is called, did not quite go as planned due to the rainy weather and some parts that were supposed to take place outside were cancelled.

Nevertheless quite a few pious people turned up to pay their respects.

The entrance of the Renkō-in 蓮光院, nicely decorated for the o-eshiki.

  

 

The mandō gyōretsu 万灯行列 (procession during which lanterns decorated with artificial flowers are carried) did take place, but the lanterns were covered with plastic sheets to protect them from the rain.

Tō-ji

Tō-ji 東寺 in Kyōto holds a number of the most impressive medieval Buddhist statues I have encountered thus far in Japan. Especially the “3D mandala” of statues with Dainichi-nyorai 大日如来 (Skt: वैरोचन Vairocana) at its centre in the Lecture hall (講堂 Kōdo) is impressive.  As it is not allowed to take pictures on the inside of the buildings, this blog entry only features pictures taken from the outside.

The entrance of Tō-ji

 Kannon-bosatsu 観音菩薩 as seen through an opening from outside of the dining hall.

 The Tō-ji’s five story pagoda.

 In or near temples affiliated to the Shingon-shū 真言宗 it is very common to find depictions of Kōbō-daishi 弘法大師 (空海Kūkai), its legendary founder. This particular statuette is enshrined a bronze stupa-like shrine.

 A statue of Jizō-bosatsu 地蔵菩薩 adorned with a red bib and hat.

 A shrine for San-men Daikoku-ten 三面大黒天 (Three-faced Mahākāla). Unfortunately, the shrine was closed at the time of my visit, but usually San-men Daikoku-ten is depicted with his central head resembling that of the regular Daikoku-ten, the left one resembling Benzai-ten 弁財天 and the right one resembling Bishmon-ten 毘沙門天. Visitors are encouraged to recite his mantra: “On ma ka kya ra ya so wa ka”.

 

 The Daishi-dō 大師堂 (the Great Master Hall, the master being Kūkai) dedicated to Fudō-myōō 不動明王. On the left there is an altar to pray for Eastern Japan’s recovery from the 2011 earthquake. 

 

A small statue of a Buddha or bodhisattva (most likely Jizō-bosatsu 地蔵菩薩) on the temple grounds. Apart from his red bib and headwear, the statue was given offerings including a nectar drink, spicy nuts, shrimp-flavoured crisps etc. At his feet, you can see a small singing bowl. If this is in fact Jizō-bosatsu, there is a possibility that these offerings were presented to him by a devotee who has lost a child.