Haiku Travels
Zenkoji Temple (Nagano)
even sparrows
bring their children
Zenkoji Temple
suzumera mo / oyakotsure nite / Zenkoji
雀らもおや子連にて善光寺
Issa
[Jizo statue in Zenkoji]
Nagano, the capital city of the mountainous prefecture of the same name, is - in contrast to most other prefectural capitals - not a former castle town. Instead of being an administrative center, in the past it was a religious magnet that drew worshipers from the whole of Japan to the famous Zenkoji Temple. The city grew up as a service center catering to the needs of pilgrims and priests. The core of Nagano therefore was Zenkoji and that is still the place where all visitors head to.
Zenkoji in Nagano is one of the most popular temples in Japan. Millions and millions of pilgrims visit it every year. They are attracted by the power of the temple's icon, a Buddha triad, said to be the Living Buddha. This image is never shown, and the closest worshipers can come to it is by walking through a pitch-dark passageway under the altar.
Zenkoji frind its origins in a myth: an icon of the Buddha Amida with his assistants the Bodhisattvas Kannon and Seishi which was purportedly carved in India, then flew to Korea and finally was given by a Korean king to the emperor of Japan. The Japanese emperor entrusted the image to one of his courtiers; in a dispute with another clan opposed to Buddhism, the image ended up being dumped into a canal.
Next a man called Honda Yoshimitsu finds the golden image and takes it to his native province, Nagano, where he builds a temple for it. 'Zenko,' the name of this temple, is another way to read the characters of the name 'Yoshimitsu.' In a sort of appendix to the myth, the son of Yoshimitsu is saved from hell and brought back to life by the Zenkoji Amida Triad. The miraculous statue ensures rebirth in paradise and also helps to make earthly life more pleasant.
[Street leading to Zenkoji, with many old buildings]
Thus, the pilgrims who visit Zenkoji every year in an endless stream believe that one pilgrimage in a lifetime will ensure them of rebirth in the Paradise of the Amida Buddha and will also bring them material rewards in the present existence. Historically, the first temple in Nagano is documented in the 9th century; the Zenkoji cult becomes popular on a large scale in the 12th century and flourishes thanks to the support of the Kamakura shogunate.
In the 16th c. several warlords as Takeda Shingen, and also the country's ruler Hideyoshi, are attracted by the magical powers of the statue and remove it from Zenkoji, but the belief gathers force that it brings ill-fortune and even death to remove the icon from its temple. Today, the image is never shown and those who set eyes upon it will go blind, is the popular belief. Every seven years, however, a copy of the icon is revealed in a grand ceremony.
The haiku-poet Kobayashi Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in the northern part of Nagano Prefecture, and after a life as wandering poet, he lived there again during his last years. As a devout Pure Land Buddhist Issa often visited Zenkoji, and he wrote numerous poems in which the temple figures (Zenkoji is a bi-denominational temple: it is administered jointly by priests from both Tendai and Jodo Buddhism).
As the above haiku shows, Issa was a keen observer of nature, especially of small animals. But there is more: the Amida Trinity of Zenkoji promises to save all sentient beings and that includes sparrows as well.
By the way, there is also a haiku by Issa which fits the above photo of Jizo:
Here is another one:
In the 16th c. several warlords as Takeda Shingen, and also the country's ruler Hideyoshi, are attracted by the magical powers of the statue and remove it from Zenkoji, but the belief gathers force that it brings ill-fortune and even death to remove the icon from its temple. Today, the image is never shown and those who set eyes upon it will go blind, is the popular belief. Every seven years, however, a copy of the icon is revealed in a grand ceremony.
The haiku-poet Kobayashi Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in the northern part of Nagano Prefecture, and after a life as wandering poet, he lived there again during his last years. As a devout Pure Land Buddhist Issa often visited Zenkoji, and he wrote numerous poems in which the temple figures (Zenkoji is a bi-denominational temple: it is administered jointly by priests from both Tendai and Jodo Buddhism).
As the above haiku shows, Issa was a keen observer of nature, especially of small animals. But there is more: the Amida Trinity of Zenkoji promises to save all sentient beings and that includes sparrows as well.
By the way, there is also a haiku by Issa which fits the above photo of Jizo:
The "ricecakes" in my translation are in fact "botamochi," literally "peony cakes," a term for rice cakes covered with bean jam and made during the vernal equinox. The same cakes are called ohagi (after the bush-clover that blooms in September) when made during the autumnal equinox. Jizo is a popular Bodhisattva, helper of all humans but especially children. He also guides those who have died through the Underworld.rice cakes -also in Jizo's lap
the spring wind
botamochi ya | Jizo no hiza mo | haru no kaze
Here is another one:
to the Unveiling
even sparrows come
with the whole family
Kaicho ni | au ya suzume mo | oyako tsure
As mentioned above, Zenkoji is famous for its "secret" statue, an Amida Triad, to which various
magnificent powers are ascribed. Some of the miracles it wrought in the
past can be seen depicted on the ema votive plates in the temple museum.
The statue is so secret that it is never shown and even a copy is only
displayed once every seven years, in a great ceremony that is called the
Unveiling (Gokaicho).
Issa, who was born in Kashiwabara north of Nagano
and spent the last part of his life again in his hometown, lived about
half a day's walking from Zenkoji and must often have visited when there
were important ceremonies. He was a Jodo Shin Buddhist who believed in
the "Other Power" (Tariki) of the Buddha Amida, the Buddha of the
Western Paradise. In this haiku, he comments humorously on the
popularity of the Unveiling - not only humans, but even sparrows visit
with their children!
spring wind -There are many legends about Zenkoji and one of them tells about a stingy woman who refused to believe in the Amida. One day, when she was washing silk at the river, an ox speared one of her precious scarfs on its horns and ran away. The woman went after him, in hot pursuit, running day and night. In the end, she found herself inside Zenkoji Temple where she saw a Kannon statue carrying her scarf... the statue had transformed itself into an ox. This display of religious power so impressed the woman that she became a convert and gave up het stingy way of life. Symbolically, the story shows how the Amida of Zenkoji "pulls" believers from everywhere to the great temple.
pulled by an ox
Zenkoji
haru kaze ya | ushi ni hikarete | Zenkoji
Access:
Take a bus from Nagano Station on the JR Nagano Shinkansen Line and the Shinano Tetsudo/JR Shinonoi Line. Then 7 min. on foot from the bus stop Zenkoji or Zenkoji Daimon.
It is also possible to walk from the station (about 25 min).
Zenkoji website
When in Nagano, also visit the beautiful Higashiyama Kaii Gallery (part of the Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum), standing not far from Zenkoji, and dedicated to a famous 20th c. nihonga painter.
Note: A great resource on Issa, containing more than 7300 translations of his haiku, is Haiku of Kobayashi Issa by David G. Lanoue.
All photos in this post are by Ad Blankestijn.