哲学の道 The Philosopher’s Blossom

This post will be part two of my visit to Philosopher’s walk 哲学の道 (part one here). All of these temples, including the two previously covered, were along a short forty-minute-walk stretch. There will be lots of pictures of cherry blossom, or sakura 桜 so if you didn’t get enough of that from my last post, here’s some more!

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The first temple we visited that day was also the smallest. Miroku-in 弥勒院 was a small courtyard with the stamp booth on the outside facing the path. There was a small market going on inside the temple with a few stalls selling pottery, purses and other hand-made objects. As such we did not spend much time in the actual temple courtyard as it was really crowded – a problem with being directly on the Philosopher’s walk is that the temple was far more crowded than those slightly apart from the road.

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Miroku-in is a temple from 1600 that was combined with another small temple in 1896 and was then moved in 1927 to its current location on Phiosopher’s walk. The temple is famous for the statue of Jizo, god of travellers and children, enshrined there which is known as the ‘Jizo of Happiness’ and is said to bring happiness to those that pray at the temple. This statue was inherited by the temple during World War 2. I got two stamps at this temple, one general stamp and a prayer to Jizo. There were lanterns hanging outside the temple that read ‘Jizo of happiness’ and the prayer tablets also showed a very merry looking Jizo. It was a nice quick temple with a lot of character, even if it was a little busy.

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In a bid to get out of the crowds and find some more temples, we ventured off the main path to the East where there are several temples nestled in the woods. The first we came across was Honen-in 法然院, which is a temple dedicated to its namesake, Honen, the founder of the Jodo sect of Buddhism. We have encountered Honen before when exploring temples; he was the monk that upset many other sects by stating that Buddhist chants were the only way to reach the Pure Land and by placing lay monks on the same level as those that had served many years, messing up temple hierarchies. This unpopularity was only increased when, in 1207, two female attendants of the retired emperor converted to Jodo Buddhism and became nuns – there were rumours that the two monks that had converted them had seduced the attendants and the two monks were put to death while Honen was exiled.

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Honen-in was founded in 1680 to honour Honen; though he fell out of favour with the imperial family during his lifetime, he was pardoned before his death and became a prominent figure in Japanese Buddhsim and is celebrated as the founder of Jodo Buddhism. The temple itself was beautiful and we were able to venture inside the sprawling temple buildings. Thankfully as it is now getting warmer my feet did not freeze on the cold temple floor this time – you must take your shoes off to enter a Buddhist temple which can be problematic in the winter when the cold floor causes your feet to go numb!

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This temple also had a beautiful collection of screens that were well worth visiting. Sadly photography wasn’t allowed but I have a few sneaky pictures. I would recommend going to check them out if you are in Kyoto!

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Our next stop, and tying in well to the history of Honen-in, was Anraku-ji 安楽寺. This temple is dedicated to those two young priests that converted the retired emperor’s attendants and were executed for allegedly seducing them. Their story is that they built a thatched hut in Higashiyama to pray to the Amitabha Buddha. Two ladies, attendants of the retired emperor Gotoba, came to hear their teachings and were sou touched that they became nuns and renounced the world. This incensed the imperial family and nembutsu prayers, the Buddhist chants key to Jodo Buddhism, were banned. The two priests were executed. It is unclear as to whether anything untoward or indecent actually went on, but in the already tense environment surrounding Jodo Buddhism, this was the final straw for the imperial family.

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This temple was constructed in 1532 in memory of these two young men. It is also well known as a temple that holds an annual festival on July 25th at which they serve pumpkin that supposedly cures paralysis. I have no idea where this myth comes from but it seems fairly obvious that the story would involved a paralysed man eating pumpkin. Strange, but worth a try I suppose. There is also a tea room at Anraku-ji if you fancy a rest and a drink. There isn’t really much else there; a small garden and a nice view of the main building is mostly what you will get out of this temple.

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The next two temples we visited were covered on my previous post about Philosopher’s Walk, so we will jump to the final stop on our trip. Before that, though, I’ll tell you a little about the walk itself. It is called Philosopher’s walk because it was the favourite walking spot of famous Kyoto philosopher Nishida Kitaro (1870 – 1945). I don’t really understand the nuances of philosophy well enough to properly convey his ideas, but I can tell you that he focussed on bringing Eastern and Western philosophical concepts closer, while also taking an interest in the Japanese concept of ‘nothingness’. He founded the Kyoto school, which is a group of influential Japanese philosophers based in Kyoto. I can see why he would walk down this path, it is serene and beautiful (especially when it isn’t packed with tourists looking at the blossoms).

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The walk itself was indeed packed with tourists as I had expected. There were also at least 4 different brides and grooms getting their photos taken among the blossoms; cherry blossom season must be very popular for weddings, and I can see why. We also saw some fish in the stream as well as some cats sitting in what looked like a pram being fawned over by a crowd of tourists. I was pretty hungry half-way through our walk so I picked up a potatornado, a spiralled potato that had been deep fried, like a long crisp. It was really tasty and it goes without saying the name is fantastic.

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Our final stop is Nyakuo Shrine 若王子神社, another smaller shrine close to Philosopher’s Walk. The reason for the small size of this shrine is that it was founded in 1160 as a combined Shinto shrine and Zen Buddhist temple, but when the government decreed the division of Shinto and Buddhism in 1868, only the Shinto elements of the complex remained (more information on this decreed split between Buddhism and Shinto in this post).

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We only got to see the best part of this shrine because I got my stamp done – the man that did the calligraphy told me that just up the hill around the back of the shrine there was a grove of sakura. We went to have a look and sure enough, there was a grove of the beautiful darker pink cherry blossom trees as well as a fairly good view of Kyoto. I think I prefer the darker pink blossoms as they contrast so well with the blue sky whereas the white ones, though beautiful, tend to look a little washed out in photos – the camera doesn’t capture their subtle light pink colour.

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Thus ends our stroll down Philosopher’s Walk, I hope you enjoyed the blossoms and the temples. If you haven’t quite had your blossom fix, there are more spring blogs coming, so never fear. I still have a huge backlog of material to write about!

浅草寺 Gates of Thunder

While visiting Tokyo, I returned to one of my favourite temples in Japan, Senso-ji, better known to Western tourists as the Thunder Gate. This temple is pretty spectacular; there is a long approach with market stalls, two impressive gates with huge lanterns hanging in them, a large temple complex and a beautiful surrounding garden. I simply had to revisit this temple while on my year abroad.

Senso-ji, 金龍山浅草寺, founded in 645, is the oldest temple in Tokyo. It is said that two brothers were fishing in the Sumida river (which flows through Tokyo) and found a statue of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of mercy. They brought the statue to the village where a wealthy man decided to enshrine the statue in his own house, turning it into a temple for villagers to visit and pray. This temple, like many in Tokyo, was destroyed by the 1945 air raids and rebuilt in the post-war period. It became a symbol of rebirth for the Japanese people.

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Senso-ji is most famous for the large gates and lanterns. There are two gates on the approach to the temple, the first is Kaminarimon 雷門, the Thunder Gate, which was built in 941 by a military commander. The current structure dates back to 1960. The gate bears a huge lantern with the characters ‘雷門’ written on it, which mean Thunder Gate. The lantern weighs 670kg and measures 3.4m in circumference. The gate is flanked by the figures of Raijin and Fujin, the gods of thunder and wind. It is believed that Fujin, the god of wind, actually originates from the Greek god Boreas – the image of the Greek wind god carrying a bag of wind was transmitted down the silk road, eventually reaching Japan as Fujin, who also carries a wind bag.

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The second gate, the way into the inner temple, is called Hozomon 宝蔵門, Treasure House Gate. It was built by the same military commander as the Thunder Gate, and when it was rebuilt after the air raids of 1945 it was rebuilt with flame-resistant materials. Because of this, this gate houses the treasures of Senso-ji, which include a copy of the lotus sutra and a collection of Buddhist scriptures. There are also lanterns hanging from this gate, the main one bears the characters ‘小舟町’ Kobunacho, the name of the town in which Senso-ji is situated.

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Between the two gates there is a long market street called Nakamise-dori 仲見世通り, which has around 100 different shops, with goods ranging from snacks, to wood-block prints, to kimono. This is an excellent place to buy souvenirs or presents for friends and family. This shopping street arose in the 18th century when locals were permitted to set up shops on the approach. Though it has changed a lot through war, rebuilding and restructuring, people have been buying the same things on this street for centuries. You can also take a rickshaw ride around the streets near the temple if you want to sit back and let someone do all the work of getting through the crowds for you.

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Senso-ji’s inner temple is fairly typical of Japanese buddhist temples; there are places to get your fortune, buy protective charms and a main hall of worship, however it is much larger in scale than most temples and it has a pagoda. I managed to get two stamps at this temple, one the standard temple stamp and the other a prayer to Kannon.

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Next door to Senso-ji is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the men that founded Senso-ji; by venerating a deity they in turn were worshipped as deities. This is Asakusa Shrine, 浅草神社, which was commissioned by Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, in 1649. Iemitsu is well known for bringing in the two policies that any student of Japanese history will cover when studying the Tokugawa period; Sankin Kotai and Sakkoku. Sankin Kotai 参勤交代 was the decree that all Daimyo (lords) must alternate living one year in their province and one year in Edo, the capital. This effectively drained the resources of the Daimyo, ensuring they could not finance a rebellion. In addition, they were required to leave their wives and children in Edo, basically making them hostages that could be harmed if the Daimyo stirred up trouble.

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The second policy, Sakoku 鎖国, is the apparent ‘closing’ of Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate. This was brought into force by a decree banning all Japanese from travelling abroad on pain of death, and all foreigners, bar the Dutch, were expelled from Japan. This was due to the shogunate’s increasing fear of Christianity; Daimyo that had converted to Christianity were banding together and the shogunate feared they were more loyal to the church than to the Shogunate. Thus Christianity was banned in Japan and those that wished to continue would have to do so in secret; the Bodhisattva Kannon was often worshipped as a substitute of the virgin Mary – there were many statues of Kannon holding a baby with a cross hidden on the statue, which became known as ‘Maria Kannon’. When Christianity was made legal again in 1873 around 30,000 Japanese Christians came out of hiding.

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In reality Japan was not really a ‘closed country’ – there were still links with China, the Ryuukyu kingdom of Okinawa, the Ainu, Korea and the Dutch (who were allowed to stay on an artificial island because they promised not to spread Christianity), it was more a blocking out of the West than a blocking out of the world, however in Western eyes, Japan was a ‘closed country’ until the ‘opening’ of Japan in 1851 by American war ships.

There was also a small shrine to inari next-door to Asakusa shrine which we checked out. It wasn’t particularly remarkable but it shows how pervasive inari shrines are around Japan.

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If you are visiting Tokyo I strongly recommend visiting Senso-ji for a great temple experience and a chance to buy some souvenirs at the market. It is a very busy temple with huge crowds of people, but that is to be expected with most major tourist sites in Japan. It is also completely free!