2014年01月29日
Negoroji Temple
A belated Happy New Year to all and best wishes for 2014. New Year’s in Japan is traditionally celebrated by a visit to a temple or shrine to pray for good fortune. Takamatsu’s Negoroji Temple is one popular destination, but it’s worth a visit at any time of year.
Those giant straw sandals (waraji) on either side of the gate above are to protect travelers. Made every year by a group of volunteers, they scare off demons. After all, any guardian deity that could carry such a huge pair of sandals would have to be invincible, right?
I liked the way these particular sandals were strung with smaller pairs of sandals.
When Negoroji was established in the late 8th century, mountains were considered the best setting for meditation and prayer, and for honing spiritual powers through rigorous training.
A pilgrim on the 88 temple circuit
Thus, despite being located in Takamatsu city, the temple is set quite deep in a mountain and manages to retain a feeling of remoteness and tranquility. The stairs make for a good workout, too.
Within the temple grounds is the stump of an old Japanese zelkova tree.
Legend has it that when the Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi (774-835?) founded the temple, a white monkey swung out of this tree to help him. People claim that the tree was 1600 years old when it died and the stump is still highly revered.
Before heading into the main temple, we dutifully cleansed ourselves with water
And bathed ourselves in incense smoke.
We rang the bell for good measure, too, as that seemed to be the thing to do, at least at New Year's anyway. (Please note that not all temple bells can be rung by just anyone who comes by or at any time of day or year.)
Inside the main temple,
we wound our way through lovely, atmospheric corridors, very dimly lit but occasionally opening onto the brilliant light of the temple courtyard. The corridors were lined to the ceiling with carved images of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy).
These Kannon statues, by the way, are one way to raise funds to build a temple. Supporters pay to have an image made and placed in the temple when it is built. Over 30,000 images line the corridors of Negoroji, and they come from many different parts of Japan.
Having prayed for a good year, it's tradition to pay 100 yen for a fortune.
If you get a bad one, don't despair. Just tie it to the branch of a nearby tree to make sure the bad luck doesn't follow you out of the temple. As you can see from the photo below, you won't be the only one.
Car is the easiest way to get to Negoroji Temple. It is a little out of the way but I highly recommend it as does David at http://ogijima.com/negoroji/ .
See map below for access to Negoroji:
http://www.city.takamatsu.kagawa.jp/english/sightseeing/spot/negoroji.html
Takamatsu Access:
Takamatsu can be reached by direct flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, by express bus from Kansai International Airport (3 hr), and by direct flights from China and Korea. It can also be reached by taking the bullet train to Okayama and changing to the Marine Liner bound for Takamatsu (runs every 1/2 hour; takes 1 hour). For more info see http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
Those giant straw sandals (waraji) on either side of the gate above are to protect travelers. Made every year by a group of volunteers, they scare off demons. After all, any guardian deity that could carry such a huge pair of sandals would have to be invincible, right?
I liked the way these particular sandals were strung with smaller pairs of sandals.
When Negoroji was established in the late 8th century, mountains were considered the best setting for meditation and prayer, and for honing spiritual powers through rigorous training.
A pilgrim on the 88 temple circuit
Thus, despite being located in Takamatsu city, the temple is set quite deep in a mountain and manages to retain a feeling of remoteness and tranquility. The stairs make for a good workout, too.
Within the temple grounds is the stump of an old Japanese zelkova tree.
Legend has it that when the Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi (774-835?) founded the temple, a white monkey swung out of this tree to help him. People claim that the tree was 1600 years old when it died and the stump is still highly revered.
Before heading into the main temple, we dutifully cleansed ourselves with water
And bathed ourselves in incense smoke.
We rang the bell for good measure, too, as that seemed to be the thing to do, at least at New Year's anyway. (Please note that not all temple bells can be rung by just anyone who comes by or at any time of day or year.)
Inside the main temple,
we wound our way through lovely, atmospheric corridors, very dimly lit but occasionally opening onto the brilliant light of the temple courtyard. The corridors were lined to the ceiling with carved images of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy).
These Kannon statues, by the way, are one way to raise funds to build a temple. Supporters pay to have an image made and placed in the temple when it is built. Over 30,000 images line the corridors of Negoroji, and they come from many different parts of Japan.
Having prayed for a good year, it's tradition to pay 100 yen for a fortune.
If you get a bad one, don't despair. Just tie it to the branch of a nearby tree to make sure the bad luck doesn't follow you out of the temple. As you can see from the photo below, you won't be the only one.
Car is the easiest way to get to Negoroji Temple. It is a little out of the way but I highly recommend it as does David at http://ogijima.com/negoroji/ .
See map below for access to Negoroji:
http://www.city.takamatsu.kagawa.jp/english/sightseeing/spot/negoroji.html
Takamatsu Access:
Takamatsu can be reached by direct flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, by express bus from Kansai International Airport (3 hr), and by direct flights from China and Korea. It can also be reached by taking the bullet train to Okayama and changing to the Marine Liner bound for Takamatsu (runs every 1/2 hour; takes 1 hour). For more info see http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
My Profile
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
Posted by cathy at 23:00│Comments(0)
※会員のみコメントを受け付けております、ログインが必要です。
