that he is able to rescue the suffering from hell.
The temple bell, the Mukae-gane (Bell of Welcome) to the southeast of the Hondo, is rung during the Bon period in summer, and it is thought that its sound can be heard in the other world, the world of the dead. The sound ostensibly leads the spirits of that region back to earth. Priest Keishun is said to have had the bell created, and when he left for a three-year visit to China to study Buddhism, he had the bell buried. Curiosity overcame the priest left in charge of the temple, and he unearthed the bell and rang it in order to hear its pure sound. On his return to Japan, Keishun reprimanded the curious priest since, he claimed, he had heard the sound of the bell even in China.
2 ROKUHARA-MITSU-JI TEMPLE
If Chinko-ji is connected with beliefs involving the dead, the nearby Rokuhara-mitsu-ji Temple is associated with the pious Priest Kuya, who was concerned to save the souls of individuals while they were still living and to assure them of a place in Amida’s Western Paradise after death. The temple lies to the west and south of Matsubara-dori, the same street traversed to reach Chinko-ji. Coming from Higashi-oji-dori on Matsubara-dori, turn left at the fourth street on the left, which brings you to the temple on the west side of the street. (It is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There is an entry fee to the Treasure House but no fee to the temple itself.)
Rokuhara-mitsu-ji was established by Priest Kuya, the “Dancing Saint” or “Saint of the Marketplace,” in 963, and the continued existence of the temple is a testimony to the importance of this man who affected the lives of the common people during his own and later times.
A statue of Kannon in the courtyard of Rokuhara-mitsu-ji Temple.
Kuya Shonin (903–72), according to some accounts, was the son of the Emperor Daigo (reigned 897–930), a claim often made to give distinguished commoners a noble heritage. Whatever his lineage, whether noble or otherwise, he devoted his life to helping the common man, traveling from village to village, aiding and instructing the peasants in digging wells, building and repairing bridges and roads, and caring for the sick. A devotee of Amida, he spread the belief and faith in Amida as he traveled from town to town, chanting and singing the Nembutsu (“Praise to Amida Buddha”) to folk tunes while he danced and beat upon his wooden food bowl to keep time. Clad in a thin deerskin, a bell about his neck so as to draw attention to his mission, his antler-headed staff in one hand, he danced the byways of villages and the streets of towns singing:
One never fails
To reach the Pure Land If one calls,
Just once,
The name of Amida.
(This chanting dance is still performed at the Todai-ji Temple in Nara on May 2nd in honor of Emperor Shomu and at the Kuya-do Temple in Kyoto in mid-November in memory of Priest Kuya.)
Kuya came to Kyoto in 938, making his home in the marketplaces where he begged for food, a standard practice of Buddhist monks since the giving of alms by the faithful to monks is considered a religious duty. He sang and danced the praises of Amida, but he also attended the sick and the poor, making green tea from bamboo for them and offering them a little pickled plum with the tea while he intoned a Buddhist invocation. Many of the sick were healed under his care. The populace named him the “Saint of the Marketplace” or the “Nembutsu Saint”—just as villagers had named the wells he helped them dig as “Amida wells.”
Kuya arrived at the great monastic center of Enryaku-ji on top of Mount Hiei to the northeast of Kyoto in 948, and there he was received into the monastery for study and monastic discipline. He was given the name of Kosho by the noted priest Ensho of Enryaku-ji. In 951, however, a plague settled upon Kyoto, and Kuya returned to the city and carved a large image of the 11-headed Kannon. He pulled this image on a cart through the streets of Kyoto, thereby, according to popular belief, helping to end the plague. Eventually he built a temple, Saiko-ji, on land given by the great Taira family (whose mansions lay in the district), and here he served as its head priest. Here, too, his image of Kannon was ensconced, and thus began the history of the Rokuhara-mitsu-ji. The temple was enlarged by his successors and, though tradition states that the present main hall of the temple is the original Seiko-ji Hondo, that original building was destroyed in a fire. The present hall and its Kannon image date from 1463.
As with other legends concerning noted figures in early Japanese history, it was recorded that, at his death, Kuya washed and put on clean clothes, lay down facing to the west, his eyes closed as he meditated. Thus he died, facing the Western Paradise where he would meet Amida. It is said that a heavenly perfume and music filled the air at the moment of his demise.
After Kuya’s death, his disciples expanded Rokuhara-mitsu-ji, and it became a center of Tendai (Amida) Buddhism. During the ascendancy of the Taira clan (1140–83), the Taira and their followers had their mansions in this area, and the temple flourished under their patronage. Upon the fall of the Taira in 1183, when Minamoto Yoritomo attacked Kyoto and the Taira forces, the Taira set fire to each of their 20 mansions before fleeing the city. Some 4,000–5,000 houses of their retainers and of the general populace went up in flames, but the Main Hall of the temple was spared during the conflagration, which destroyed much of this portion of eastern Kyoto.
Fires have destroyed the temple buildings on numerous occasions since that time, and the Hondo of 1463 is the oldest part of the temple still standing. When Hideyoshi built his Great Buddha at Hoko-ji Temple in the 1590s, he generously repaired Rokuharamitsu-ji as well. A further restoration was carried out in 1969.
The one-story Hondo (Main Hall), of decorated vermilion posts and beams contrasting with white plaster walls and a dark-tiled roof, offers an attractive sight in the heart of a busy city district. Set before the steps leading into the Main Hall are a large incense pot and a perpetual flame. To the left of the steps is a box of stones from which the devout can build small stupas (pagodas), in accordance with the belief that the souls of dead children wander at the border of the River Sai, condemned to pursue salvation by building towers of stone, which are kicked down by sadistic demons. Jizo, the guardian of children, drives away the demons. Thus the piling up of stones, such as at this temple, can help the souls of the children to Buddhist salvation.
Within the Hondo, the main image is an 11-headed Kannon with a Jizo on its left and a Yakushi Nyorai on its right. At the four corners of the altar stand the Shi-tenno (Four Deva Kings) on guard against the forces of evil. These guardians were carved by the great 13th century sculptor Unkei.
The main reason for visiting the Rokuharamitsu-ji is to see the statues preserved in its Treasury Building, a separate small, fire-proof, ferro-concrete building to the southwest of the Hondo. It contains a number of notable statues of the 12th to 13th centuries. On either side of the interior entry of the building is a display of scrolls, the temple holding the written will of the great priest Kobo Daishi (Kukai) among other treasures. Against the left wall in the Treasury proper is a freestanding image of Emma, the unpleasant looking king of hell, with a scribe and attendants on either side. Against the right wall is an image of Yakushi Nyorai, the deity of healing, with a medicine pot in his left hand. He is flanked by life-sized Shi-tenno guardian images on his right and left. The major treasures of the temple are lined up along the rear wall of the building (some labels are in English), and they include a number of the finest portrait statues of the Kamakura period (1185–1333). The seated images are approximately 3 feet (90 cm) tall. From left to right, the statues are:
1. A seated statue of the sculptor Tankei, a rosary in his hand. This 1264 image is claimed to be a self-portrait.
2. A 12th century realistic seated image of Jizo by Unkei. This Jizo was originally the main object of worship in the Jurin-in of the Bodai-ji Temple near Hachijo-dori (Eighth Street), and it is thought that it was flanked by the figures of Unkei and Tankei, which still stand on either side of it today. As the Kei family temple, the Bodai-ji was created by Unkei near his workshop. The image, now darkened by time, was once painted in rich colors; traces of cut gold leaf patterns can still be seen on parts of the robe. The image has the extended ear lobes of a Buddhist prince, pendant ear rings, crystal eyes and the third “eye” of knowledge in mid-forehead.