Small shrines near Sensō-ji 浅草寺

I went to the Sensō-ji again. This temple is considered to be one of the oldest if not the oldest temples in Tōkyō, even though it has been damaged and restored several times over the years. The temple is dedicated to Shō-kannon 聖観音1, of whom fishermen allegedly found a statue in the Sumida river in 628. While I was writing my master’s thesis on this Japanese interpretation of Avalokiteśvara अवलोकितेश्वर, unfortunately I was not able to visit this temple, but returning here, this time as a “Kannon scholar”, I obviously had a far better understanding of what I saw around me than the last time a few years ago.

This time, I did not come particularly to see Kannon. As the honzon 本尊, or main idol, remains hidden for the public 2, there is not much to investigate for me when it comes to enshrined statues and altars, but I did remember there were several hokora 祠 (small shrines) besides the main temple.  Among them is a fairly large amount of Jizō-bosatsu 地蔵菩薩 statues. The most remarkable one seemed simply damaged at first sight. Upon closer inspection however, I realised that the statue’s front had been carved away by a ritual process of devotees continuously rubbing small pebbles against the surface.  

 

Far more interesting for my research even, was a small hokora with the duo Ebisu 恵比須 and Daikoku-ten大黒天. Ebisu is believed to be purely Japanese, the kami of fishermen and the sea and Daikoku-ten is likely to have derived from  the Hindu deity Mahākāla महाकाल 3.,  a manifestation of Śiva शिव. From the Muromachi period 4 onwards these two deities have been often enshrined together presented as being brothers, father and son or sometimes as master and apprentice.  They can also be seen in the so-called Ebisu-dana 恵比寿棚, a type of kamidana. And this is where it is inspiring for my research: a Hindu/Buddhist deity and a native Japanese deity that are commonly enshrined alongside one another and venerated by the common folk to such an extent that they have been given a place in the private household. As it probably cannot get much closer to ‘syncretism in folk altars’ than this I plan to look into some historical sources to find out more about the veneration of this duo. At this point I am thinking about the following options: Ebisu and Daikoku in hokora, kamidana (Ebisu-dana) or zūshi 厨子.

1. The most basic one of the seven principle hengeshin 変化身 (manifestations) of Kannon-bosatsu 観音菩薩

2. Such “hidden Boeddha’s” are called hibutsu 秘仏 in Japanese. They are especially common in temples affiliated with the Shingon- and Tendai-sect. Sensō-ji used to be a Tendai temple, but is now independent.

3. महा=big, mega ->大 ; काल=black ->黒

4. 1336-1573

Sources:

• Frank, Bernard. Le panthéon bouddhique au Japon-collections d'Emile Guimet. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991. (p213).

• Iida, Masao (飯田雅男). 『橋から見た隅田川の歴史』 (Hashi kara mita Sumida-gawa no rekishi). Tokyo: Bungeisha (文芸社), 2002.  

• Tanaka, Yoshiyasu (田中義恭).『面白いほどよくわかる仏像の世界: 仏像の種類・歴史から鑑賞のポイントまで』(Omoshiroi hodo yoku wakaru butsuzō no sekai: butsuzō no shurui, rekishi kara kanshō made). Tokio: Nihon bungeisha (日本文芸社), 2008.