Showing posts with label topic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label topic. Show all posts

11/15/2007

Adashino Temple Kyoto

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Explanation

Adashino, Temple Nenbutsu-ji

Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple あだしの念仏寺, 仏野念仏寺 / 化野念仏寺
Adashino-cho, Toriimoto, Saga, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City

The Chinese characters of the name mean "Buddha Field 仏野 ". The temple is located overlooking Kyoto from the North-West, in a place of an old burrial ground, where in olden times it was a custom to leave the bodies here to decay 風葬. Kobo Daishi erected a temple here, and Saint Honen re-named it as "Amida Prayer Temple" Nenbutsu-Ji. See LINKS below.

People build many stone markers for the dead and soon started some funral and memorial services to pacify the souls, especially for graves with no families to look after them any more. Now there are more than 8000 stone markers.

There is also a region for the graves of small children, Sai no Kawara.

CLICK for more photos CLICK for more in English and photos


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- Homepage of the temple
source : www.nenbutsuji.jp

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quote
© Idler, cheap to travel

Late one afternoon I make my away to Adashino Nembutsu-ji, the famous temple and cemetery on the outskirts of Kyoto. Along the way I ponder just what draws me to these places beyond mere historical and architectural interest. Is it the sheer novelty of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, or is there some underlying principle that I find appealing?

The key, I think, is rooted in mono no aware, a sensibility that is uniquely Japanese. Without going into a prolonged discourse, the simplest definition would be a keen appreciation of the vulnerability of life and the transitory nature of all things, yet at the same time a pleasurable sadness that arises from cherishing brief moments of beauty. The cherry blossom is perhaps the most common symbol of mono no aware—budding, blooming, and falling softly to the ground in only a few days—evanescent beauty in a world in which all things continuously change and disappear.

The concept of the transience of the world is central to Buddhism, particularly Zen Buddhism, with its appreciation of beauty as a fleeting state and its longing for the infinite and eternal. The very brevity and fragility of life makes it all the more touching. Those who possess a sense of mono no aware are sensitive not only to ephemeral beauty but to the suffering of all living things.

“If we lived forever,
if the dews of Adashino never vanished,
if the crematory smoke on Toribeyama never faded,
men would hardly feel the pity of things."


Yoshida Kenko (author and Buddhist monk, 1283-1350)

Yoshida Kenko 吉田兼好 Yoshida Kenkoo

This is the essence of mono no aware.

The “Adashino” that Kenko referred to was the same Adashino Nembutsu-ji which was the object of my pilgrimage. Accounts of the creation of this temple and its cemetery vary, though most credit the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, Kooboo Daishi Kuukai Dashi (774-835), with establishing it to create a proper burial ground for the unclaimed deceased of Kyoto.

All the grave markers in the area were gathered, some 8,000 crude stone Buddhas and gorinto (stone pagodas), and assembled in a large courtyard outside the temple, arranged in rows around a central stupa.

The effect of the thousands of amassed weathered stones, arrayed as if listening to a sermon, is striking, even more so each August when a ceremony called Sentō Kuyō or “The Service of A Thousand Lights” is held. During this ceremony, thousands of people gather at nightfall and light votive candles before the stone Buddhas, lighting a path home for the anonymous dead spirits.

In the 12th century, Honen Shonin, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism, established a training center at the temple, “Nembutsu” referring to the Pure Land Buddhist devotional recitation. Much of the appeal of the Pure Land sect was its accessibility to commoners, as Buddhism was initially the religion of the ruling classes. At first it was not widely spread among common folk due to both its complexity and strictures on exactly who could worship and how. Pure Land Buddhism played a key role in the democratization of Buddhism, allowing those on the periphery of society to participate. Honen expressed the essence of Pure Land teaching, quite radical at the time, when he wrote:

“There shall be no distinction, no regard to male or female, good or bad, exalted or lowly; none shall fail to be in his Land of Purity after having called, with complete faith, on Amida [Buddha].”

This world of dew
Is only a world of dew
And yet ... oh yet ...


Issa

Read the rest of the story HERE !
by Kay Douglas (Idler)

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There is another Nenbutsu-Ji in Kyoto,
Nishimura Kocho and the Otagi Nenbutsu-Ji
Gabi Greve



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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way



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HAIKU


CLICK for original. www.answers.com

あだしのに蝶は罪なく見ゆる也
Adashino ni choo wa tsumi naku miyuru nari

in Adashi Field
the butterflies seem
sinless

Issa

Or: "a butterfly seems..."
Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa is punning in this haiku. Adashino means "Adashi Field" and "guilty field." The butterflies seem sinless, despite being in "Sinful Field."

Tr. David Lanoue

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Two tsuke-ku, capped verse



in Adashi Field
the butterflies seem
sinless


so many little
piles of stones


Linda Papanicolaou, November 2007

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in Adashi Field
the butterflies seem
sinless


the lightness of these
tiny piles of stones


Norman Darlington, November 2007

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Related words

Adashiono was later relocated to this area
Toribeno Cemetery in Kyoto 鳥辺野


***** Light offerings afloat (tooroo nagashi, sentoo kuyoo) and more

***** Kobo Daishi, Kukai 弘法大師 空海

***** Saint Hoonen, Hoonen Shoonin, Honen 法然上人

***** Nenbutsu, Namu Amida Butsu, the Amida Prayer

***** Gorinto, stone grave markers


***** Saijiki of Japanese Ceremonies and Festivals

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10/20/2007

Kasamori Inari

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Kasamori Inari Fox Shrines

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity


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Explanation

Kasamori Inari Fox Shrine, 笠森稲荷

Kasamori Inari Fox Shrine カサモリ稲荷


Kasamori Inari Dai Myojin 瘡守いなり 大明神

Kasagami, God of the Smallpox Scabs 瘡神(かさがみ)

瘡守薬王菩薩 Kasamori Yaku-O Bosatsu. PHOTO .


Kasa mori, most probably meaning

to protect (mori 守り) the scab (kasa 瘡(かさ) on a wound or smallpox.

Click for original LINK, Kubota Cool !

This Inari fox deity was popular during the Edo period when smallpox where dangerous. If not treated properly, they would leave deep skars in faces of people.
This Deity is also worshipped to protect and cure from other skin diseases, ulcers and also to help cure syphillis.

The scab of a wound was represented as an earthen dumpling (tsuchi dango), offered to the Fox Deity Inari. When the wound healed properly, the dumpling was covered with white rice powder (looking like the white powder used for doll making, gofun) as an act of thanking the Deity.

Fox gods like to eat dumplings of white rice, but this was not affordable as a common offering, so people out-tricked the tricky fox god and made mud and earth dumplings for him. Since the Fox god was waiting for the real ones after he performed his miraculous treatment, he would usually carry out the wish of the worshipper. Now when the patient was healed, the Fox god was offered mud dumplings with a thin coat of rice powder.

Since smallpox were very much feared during the Edo period, there were many shrines to this deity to pray for protection and healing.
The daily offering to this deity is also a set of two mud dumplings (土の団子).

The famous beauty of the Edo period, Kasamori O-Sen (1751~1827) 笠森お仙, also worshipped at a famous Kasamori Shrine in Edo for the protection of the beauty of her skin; there are many woodblock printings about her, especially by Harunobu Suzuki.
Osen, the "teahouse girl at Kasamori Inari Shrine".

Kasamori no O-Sen:English Reference

. Kanban musume 看板娘 Kamban "advertising servant" .



CLICK to look at many prints!


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手鞠歌 Children's song about the dumplings

向う横丁のお稲荷さんへ、
一文あげてざっと拝んでお仙の茶屋へ、
腰を掛けたら渋茶を出して、
渋茶よくよく横目で見たら、
米の団子か土の団子かお団子団子

Let's to go the Fox Shrine over there.
Let's visit the teahouse of O-Sen.
Let's sit down and have some bitter tea!
Sip the tee and peek at her and then
dumplings from rice, dumplings from mud,
dumplings, dumplings, dumplings !



O-Sen bringing dumplings

CLICK for original LINK : Kubota.cool!
by Suzuki Harunobu

© Kubota: Kasamori Osen
Japanese LINK with many photos !



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CLICK for photos of the Shrine !

カサモリ稲荷

その笠森お仙の「笠森」とは、もちろん笠森稲荷から来ているのであるが、いろいろな字があてられているので、とりあえずここでは「カサモリ稲荷」としておこう。カサモリのカサとは本来「瘡(かさ)」の意で、モリは「守り」である。疱瘡や腫れ物・性病治しの神としてそれは信心されており、カサを表した土団子を神前に奉納し、平癒の後は白い米粉の団子をそこに供えて礼参りをするという祈願が、そこでおこなわれていた。この団子の奉納習俗のことは、先に掲げた童謡の歌詞の中にも歌われている。
© www.kashiwashobo.co.jp


There were many shrines of this name in many places of Japan, since the smallpox were a difficult disease to cure.
When the great shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu fell ill with a swelling on his head, he prayed to the Kasamori Inari Shrine in Edo to get well.


Yamanashi Kasamori Inari Jinja
月見里笠森稲荷神社(やまなしかさもりいなりじんじゃ)

The reading of YAMANASHI is special here.

CLICK for LINK and original information !



Kasamori Inari Shrine in Morioka, Hachimangu Shrine compound

Kasa no Mori Inari Shrine in Osaka, Takatsuki (かさのもりいなり)
Especially helpful for syphillis patients (baidoku 瘡(かさ=梅毒のこと). 瘡毒平癒の神.

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Kasamori Kannon, 笠森観音
Chiba Prefecture

CLICK for original LINK !

Kasamori Temple was founded in 784, and is known as the 31st holy temple among the 33 holy grounds of Bando. This important cultural asset, supported by 61 pillars of various lengths and dedicated to Kannon (Goddess of Mercy), is a rare sight even in Japan.
The temple is also known for housing a haiku monument composed by the famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho.
© www.ccb.or.jp Chiba

External LINK
Pilgrimage to Bando Fudasho : Kasamori, Chonan


CLICK for more photos !

五月雨にこの笠森をさしもぐさ
samidare ni kono Kasamori o sashi mogusa

during the rainy season
here at Temple Kasamori
I get some moxabustion


Matsuo Basho at Temple Kasamori-ji 笠森寺


Moxibustion (moxabustion) and Haiku

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Worldwide use

A Tale from Taiwan

" Hot and delicious dumplings! Red beans and sesame.
One for ten cents, two for twenty cents and three for free!"

Mountain Ban Pin Shan



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Things found on the way


DARUMA

Daruma, Smallpox and the color Red, the Double Life of a Patriarch
by Bernard Faure


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. Ichiron san no kubi ningyoo いちろんさんの首人形
head dolls from Ichiron san .


in memory of Minamoto no Tametomo 源為朝 (1139 - 1177), sold at Kasamori Inari


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Shining Mud Balls, hikaru doro dango 光る泥だんご

English Reference, Bruce Gardner
Japanese Reference

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HAIKU


Disease-preventing fox god ... by Issa

霜がれや胡粉の剥し土団子
shimogare ya gofun no hagashi tsuchi dango

frost-killed grass--
whitewash peeling off
the mud dumpling




nakamura sakuo comment :

1819 the most sad year of Issa.
His daughter was affected by smallpox.
As the general custom, he prayed to the fox god, offering the mud dumpling.
If the sickness would be recovered, the mud would be painted whitewash.
But she died.

sakuo renku

剥がれて吾が子 あの世へ旅立つ
hagarete wagako anoyo he tabidatu

peeling off
she has gone to the other world


 © Look at more haiga by Nakamura Sakuo HERE !

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tsuchi dango kyô mo kogarashi kogarashi zo

mud-dumplings--
today too,
winter wind!



u no hana ya kodomo no tsukuru tsuchi dango

deutzia in bloom
children make

mud-dumplings

Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


Seen in light of the smallpox background, the children are not just playing around, it seems! Maybe they are making offerings to pray for their siblings.


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Related words

***** Fox (kitsune) Japan

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8/30/2007

Pilgrimage to Kyoto

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Pilgrimage to Kyoto (Kyoo mairi 京参り )

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Non-seasonal Topic
***** Category: Humanity


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Explanation

The Pilgrimage to Kyoto with its many shrines, temples and the Emperor's palace was among the three famous pilgrimages during the Edo period, 庶民の三大行事.

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The other two were

CLICK for more photos !
Ise Shrine Pilgrimage, O-Ise-Mairi, Ise Mairi 伊勢参り
kigo for spring

Ise sanguu 伊勢参宮(いせさんぐう)

O-kage mairi お陰参り (おかげまいり)
"Thanks pilgrimages" or "blessing pilgrimages,"
a term referring to periodic mass pilgrimages to the Grand Shrines of Ise (Ise Jingū) in the Edo period, undertaken against the backdrop of the spread of the Ise cult (Ise shinkō) from the middle ages and the general acceptance of pilgrimages by commoners to the shrines at Ise.

This kind of mass pilgrimage phenomenon is believed to have been observed some fifteen times through the early modern period, including the years 1638, 1650, 1661, 1701, 1705, 1718, 1723, 1730, 1748, 1755, 1771, 1803, 1830, 1855, and 1867. Of these, the four in 1650, 1705, 1771, and 1830 have traditionally been considered of the largest scale, with over two-million pilgrims participating in 1771.
Another characteristic of these pilgrimages is the consciousness that they were to occur every fifty to sixty years, in rough conjunction with the sexegenary cycle.

The term okagemairi is said to have become commonly used from around the time of the 1771 event, and while the expression nukemairi ("slipping away pilgrimage," one taken without permission) is also used, the two terms were normally discriminated based on their different motifs. In 1867, the pilgrimage tended to be more local in nature, and it tended on the whole to have the characteristics of a mass movement during a period of social revolution, in which "world-renewal dances" gained popularity in conjunction with the concurrent fad of the so-called eejanaika movement (an antinomian folk movement with millenarian overtones).

In sum, each occasion of the okagemairi tended to feature its own unique motifs. The significance of the term okage is not clear, but it appears to have referred either to the "blessings of the Grand Shrines," or to the fact that the pilgrimage was possible due to the "blessings of others," (namely, money and other alms given to pilgrims along the way).
© Sakurai Haruo / Kokugakuin


nuke mairi 抜参(ぬけまいり)
leaving secretly and beg your way to Ise, often done by eloping couples to pray for their wedding

saka mukae 坂迎え(さかむかえ)
Ise Shrine Group, isekoo 伊勢講(いせこう)
daidai koo 太々講(だいだいこう)pilgrims group for Ise shrine
..... Isekoo いせこう【伊勢講】
Daidai kagura was performed at Ise shrine.


. Ise Shrine and its KIGO
Ise Grand Shrine (伊勢神宮, Ise Jingu)



. O-Kage Mairi Dolls .

 Woodblock Prints about Ise Mairi
External LINK

. Isemairi, Ise Mairi 伊勢参り Pilgrimage to Ise - Legends .


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CLICK for more photos !
Konpira Shrine Pilgrimage, Konpira Mairi 琴平参り
Konpira Shrine and Daruma

Palanquins of Konpira Shrine and Haiku



MAIRI 参り  is usually a pilgrimage to a famous Shinto shrine.
Since free travel of commoners was not allowed during the Edo period, a pilgrimage was usually a good excuse to get away.



Kyoto 京都 and Haiku


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way



RESOURCE GUIDE TO
JAPANESE PILGRIMS & PILGRIMAGES

Mark Schumacher


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HAIKU


短夜を橋で揃ふや京参り
mijika yo wo hashi de sorou ya kyoo mairi

in the short night
crossing bridges en masse...
Kyoto pilgrimage




おとし厄馬につけたりいせ参り
otoshi yaku uma ni tsuketari ise mairi

the devil driven
from a horse...
Ise Shrine pilgrimage

Issa is referring to the great Shinto shrine at Ise. As part of a winter exorcism ritual, a priest is driving away evil spirits--from a horse.

Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


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Related words

***** Pilgrimage (henro, junrei) Pilgrims in Shikoku,
Japan and worldwide

. Pilgrimages in Japan - Introduction .

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7/02/2007

Women's slope

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Women's slope (onna-zaka, onnazaka)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic for haiku
***** Category: Humanity


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Explanation

Most mountain sanctuaries, temples and shrines in Japan have two access slopes to the topmost sanctuary. The more gentle one is for the ladies, onna-zaka 女坂, and the steeper one for the menfolk, otoko-zaka 男坂.

female slope, male slope
slope for women, slope for men
onna saka, otoko saka

It also implies the lot in life for men and women are sooo different!



Woman's Slope


Men's Slope


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


Onna zaka, The Waiting Years
Enchi, Fumiko, 1957.
a famous novel

Summary

The story is set in the early Meiji period (the late 19th-century) when feudalism, the strongest determinant of the family structure in the19th-century Japan, was going to end. Tomo (around 30 years old) is married to Yukitomo Shiwakawa (past 40), a rich government official living in Fukuoka, but she is his wife only nominally. The novel starts with Tomo's visit to Tokyo to find a concubine for her own husband.

Read more here !
© www.willamette.edu


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HAIKU



CLICK for more photos

似合しや女坂下る紙衣達
niai shi ya onnazaka oriru kamiko-tachi

they really look nice !
so many paper robes coming down
the women's slope


Kobayashi Issa
Tr. Gabi Greve

Paper robes (kamiko)
kigo for all winter


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tsuyu ake ya sate onnna-saka otoko-saka

end of the rainy season -
well, the slope for women
the slope for men



Kubota Mantaro (Mantaroo)
(Tr. Gabi Greve)


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女坂来て雷の男坂
onna zaka kite rai no otoko zaka

I came to
the women's slope - thunder
on the men's slope


© ryuusimutou2 / 俳句とお星様と山歩き

(Tr. Gabi Greve)


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城址へ落葉いろいろ女坂
shiro ato e ochiba iroiro onnazaka

different kinds of fallen leaves
on the ruins of the castle -
women's slope



© 竹内芳子 Takeuchi Yoshiko

(Tr. Gabi Greve)





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Compiled by Larry Bole

odori-ko-sou saku onna-zaka otoko-zaka

Odoriko-sou blooms...
both steep and gradual paths
to the temple

--Ikeda Toki, trans. by Shirawobi Haiku Association website editor

*On-na means women, Otoko does men, and saka means slope, in Japanese.
Onna-zaka is gradual and easy slope to the temple or shrine, and Otoko-zaka is steep and hard one

Odori-ko means the girl who is doing Japanese traditional dance. And Sou means plant or flower.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/shirawobi/05.01shuukuEnglish.html


about "onna-zaka" and "otoko-zaka," on an Amazon website:

Excerpted from Womansword:
What Japanese Words Say about Women
by Kittredge Cherry. Copyright ゥ 2002.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[I am giving myself permission to quote it here, relying on US Code: Title 17107, sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work]

Onna-rashisa: Femininity

One way to chart the meaning of femininity (onna-rashisa) in Japan is to listen to how the landscape itself is described. A "male hill" (otoko-zaka) is the steeper side of a hill, while the more gently sloping grade is termed the "female hill" (onna-zaka). This seldom-used phrase was resurrected by author Fumiko Enchi as the title for her novel about a wife who waits decades to get revenge for her husband's infidelity, though the English translation of Onna-zaka is titled simply The Waiting Years. Another way of using nature to summarize the character of the sexes is the proverb "Men are pine trees, women are wisteria vines" (Otoko wa matsu, onna wa fuji), which means men are the strong base to which women cling.

 © www.amazon.ca




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Related words

***** . Hime Kaido 姫街道 princess route .



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6/02/2007

Daibutsu and Hotoke

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Daibutsu and Hotoke

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: TOPIC
***** Category: Humanity


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Explanation

Daibutsu, a great Buddha statue, big Buddha statue, large Buddha statue 大仏

- - - - - Read the details here :
Buddha Statues : DAIBUTSU - - Mark Schumacher


The best known BIG BUDDHA statues in Japan are

in Nara - consecrated in 752.




and in Kamakura - consecrated in 1252.
The temple around it was destroyed by a tsunami in 1495.



. 鎌倉 Kamakura, a Haiku Town .

. Folk Toys from Kamakura .
with a Daibutsu made from lego !


. Daibutsu in Kyoto 京都の大仏様 .
京都大仏御殿 / Hookooji 方広寺 Hoko-Ji ...

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- quote -
The Gifu Great Buddha
岐阜大仏 Gifu Daibutsu

is a large Buddhist statue located in Shōhō-ji in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It was conceived by the 11th head priest of Kinpouzan Shōhō temple, Ichyuu, around 1790, in hopes of averting large earthquakes and famines. Ichyuu died in 1815 before it was completed, but his successor, Priest Kohshuu completed it in April 1832, after 38 years of construction. It is one of the three great Buddha portrait statues in Japan.
The Great Buddha of Gifu is unique due to the method of its construction.
First, a central pillar 1.8 meters in circumference was formed from ginkgo tree wood. The Buddha's shape was then formed using bamboo lattices. The bamboo was covered with clay to add shape and many Buddhist scriptures were then placed upon the clay. Finally, the scriptures were covered in lacquer and gold leaf, giving the Buddha the appearance that it has today.
- source : wikipedia-


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Here we are concerned with the aspect of these Buddhas and other hotoke in Haiku.

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way




BIG Daruma at temple Koryu-Ji in Hokkaido 高龍寺



大仏名鑑 - All the BIG statues of Japan !

source : sakahara 坂原弘康

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Daibutsu - just the name makes for a good commercial!

There are so many Daibutsu items on sale !
Even the nose poop 鼻くそ and navel poop へそのごま of Daibutsu!
Most are from the Nara Daibutsu.



Daibutsu anpan
Daibutsu cider
Daibutsu pudding,
Daibutsu krokke croquette
Daibutsu gummi sweets from Shonan / Kamakura

. . . CLICK here for more Photos !

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HAIKU



. Nara no Hotoke 奈良
The Buddha Statues of Nara and Haiku



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Haiku by Masaoka Shiki

daibutsu no kata hada no yuki toke ni keri

The snow on one shoulder
of the image of Great Buddha
has thawed.

Tr. Hugh Bygott

on one shoulder
of the Great Buddha
the snow has thawed ...


Translation Discussion by Gabi Greve

.....

The snow has melted
On one shoulder
Of the Great Buddha.

Life is asymmetrical in its essential character, and it is natural for us to rejoice in it, for it is the guarantee of our spiritualfreedom. Even on the Great Buddha, for all the Law of Karma and theinviolable Wheel of the Law, the snow melts irregularly.

Tr. and Comment by Blyth

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............. Tanka about the Daibutsu of Kamakura

火に焼けず 雨にも朽ちぬ 鎌倉の
はだか仏は 常仏かも

Look at some PHOTOS !


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about the Daibutsu in Nara

大仏の足もとに寝る夜寒かな
Daibutsu no ashimoto ni neru yozamu kana

sleeping at the feet
of the Big Buddha -
what a cold night


Tr. Gabi Greve


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Photo Gabi Greve
Temple Buttsu-Ji, Okayama, 2004


yukashisa ya ochiba kaburishi hotoketachi

Imaizumi Sogetsu (c. 1750 - 1804), a woman poet

How lovely!
Fallen leaves have reached and veiled
an image of Buddha.


Tr. Hugh Bygott


how lovely -
the stone Buddhas coverd
by fallen leaves


Translation Discussion by Gabi Greve

.....

Comment by Larry Bole :

Mysterious loveliness!
Buddhist statues
Covered in fallen leaves.


Tr. Blyth

Blyth makes no comment on it, but considering that he only translates one other haiku by Sogetsu-ni, one can conclude that he thought this haiku was the most representative/best of her work.

If you want to compare Sogetsu-ni's haiku quoted above to a haiku by Shiki, how about this one of his, written in 1894:

ote no ue ni ochiba tamarinu tachibotoke

Stone Buddha standing there--
fallen leaves settled
in his hands


tr. Burton Watson

Sogetsu-ni's haiku, for all its loveliness, seems to be about mostly that: loveliness. No one has ever said that the tsukinami poets (and I'm not saying Sogetsu-ni was one) weren't skillful, within their artistic limitations. I suspect that pretty, technically-accomplished haiku were manufactured seemingly effortlessly by the tsukinami poets.

.....

divine mystery
in these autumn leaves that fall
on stony buddhas

Tanrısal gizem;
bu güz düşen yapraklar
taş Buda’lara.


Turgay Uçeren

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. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


When Basho visited Todaiji in Nara, the temple was still under repair after the destruction wrought by the civil wars of the sixteenth century. The Great Buddha statue was only finally completed in 1692, after the visit by Basho described above, and the statue sat for years in the open like the Great Buddha in Kamakura.

The new Buddha Hall (which is the present one) was finally finished in 1708, and Basho did not live to see this. He grieved for the Buddha in its sad state, for at that time even the head had not been restored yet. Basho saw only the rump of the statue, slowly being covered by the first snow of the year, and he wrote:

初雪やいつ大仏の柱立
hatsu yuki ya itsu Daibutsu no hashira date

first snow!
when will the temple building start
for the Great Buddha?


© Ad G. Blankestijn,
with more memorial stones on this LINK


The year's first snowfall!
When are the columns of Daibutsu
Temple to be erected?

Tr. Oseko


Written in December Genroku 2. 元禄2年12月


Daibutsuden, the current Hall for the Great Buddha was built in 1709.

.....

 Tr. by David Landis Barnhill :

Visiting the Southern Capital, I yearned for the eventual building of the Buddha Hall

first snow--
for the Great Buddha, when
will the columns be raised?



Barnhill also gives an earlier version of this hokku:

雪悲しいつ大仏の瓦葺き
yuki kanashi itsu Daibutsu no kawarabuki

the snow is sad:
when will the Great Buddha
have its tiled roof?



It took about two years after the visit of Basho until the roof was preliminary fixed and the statue out of danger.


how sad to see it snowing!
when will the Gread Buddha Hall
get its roof tiled?

Tr. Gabi Greve




round tiles from the Daibutsu Hall
now a sweet from Nara
天平時代大仏殿の巴瓦 - tomoegawara

. . . CLICK here for Photos of the tiles !


. Temple Todai-Ji 東大寺 - Nara .


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daibutsu no te ni aru omoi hinataboko

like lying
in the palm of the Great Buddha—
winter sunshine


Takaha Shugyo 鷹羽狩行
Tr. Hoshino Tsunehiko & Adrian Pinnington


I feel like sitting
in the hands of the Great Buddha —
basking in the winter sun


hinataboko ... to take a sunbath in winter, to sit in the winter sunshine
basking in the sun
kigo for all winter
when you sit at the veranda or a sheltered place and feel the warmth of the sunshine.

This haiku is about the feeling (omoi) of the author.


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Issa has a few about the Great Buddha

大仏の鼻から出たる乙鳥哉
daibutsu no hana kara detaru tsubame kana

from the great bronze
Buddha’s nose...
a swallow!

Tr. David Lanoue ... read more haiku here !


from Great Buddha’s
nose pour forth
swallows—

Tr. Bob Jones

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Related words

***** Shin Daibutsu-Ji 新大仏寺 New Daibutsu Temple
Iga, Mie. With a statue of Fudo Myo-O

***** Gods of Japan (kami to hotoke)... General introduction


***** Dead body, deceased person (hotoke)

***** Stone Buddhas and Haiku ... Gabi Greve

***** Imaizumi Sogetsu-ni . 今泉素月尼

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東大寺大佛 The Big Buddha of Todai-Ji
Asano Takeji 浅野竹二 (1900 - 1999)




大仏 Kamakura Daibutsu
Kawase Hasui 月川瀬 巴水 (1883 – 1957)


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