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Walking Tour 4

KENNIN-JI AREA

The Six Realms of the Dead, the Dancing Saint and Zen Beginnings

1 Chinko-ji Temple 六道珍皇寺

2 Rokuhara-mitsu-ji Temple 六波羅蜜寺

3 Ebisu Shrine 京都ゑびす神社

4 Kennin-ji Temple 建仁寺

5 Yasui Kompira Shrine 安井金比羅宮

The contrast between the secular and the religious has always permeated Kyoto life and history. Kennin-ji, one of the earliest and most important of Kyoto’s Zen monasteries, for example, is a next door neighbor to the Pleasure Quarters that have made the name Gion synonymous with the pursuits of the “floating world” of kabuki and of the ochaya (tea houses) where men can be well fed while being entertained by geisha (if they can afford such luxurious pleasures and have the proper introduction to the proprietress of the ochaya), as well as other delights both licit and illicit. This is the area to be explored on this and the next walk.

The Rokuhara district, which forms part of this tour, has its own major sites, such as Ebisu Shrine, whose festive occasions are thronged by businessmen and the general public in the hope of increasing their wealth. It has the Wakamiya Shrine just north of Gojo-dori (Fifth Street), which presides over the district itself as well as the great pottery fairs held annually on Gojo-dori. Here, too, is the Rokuhara-mitsu-ji Temple, which en-shrines the magnificent, realistic image of that Saint of the Marketplace, Priest Kuya, portrayed as though still walking the streets of the city, beating his drum while repeating the Nembutsu (“Praise to Amida Buddha”) that issues from the image’s mouth in the form of tiny Amida figures.

The Rokuhara district where this walk begins was once the seat of the proud and powerful. Here, in the mid-1100s, the Taira clan and their followers had their mansions and governmental offices—before Taira-no-Kiyomori made the mistake, after his forces had killed Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo, of permitting the Minamoto children to live if they were placed in monasteries to become monks. In time, they grew up and revolted against Taira rule, a revolt which in 1185 led not only to the burning of the palatial mansions of the Taira (and much of eastern Kyoto) but to the death of Kiyomori’s family, his followers and his Imperial grandson. Here, after 1185, the Minamoto victors set up their Kyoto headquarters, so that the area remained the locus of political power in the city under the rule by the Minamoto Shoguns from Kamakura between 1185 and 1333.

Visitors crowd the entrance to Chinko-ji, the “Six Realms of the Dead Temple.”

There is the mysterious in this sector as well, for portions of the Rokuhara district were once the burial grounds for the common people, and here is supposed to be located the “Six Avenues” that lead to the other world, where the souls of the dead reside until called back for the brief O-Bon period each mid-summer by the bell of the Chinko-ji Temple. The Yasui Kompira Shrine in the district, while not mysterious in itself, has its mystery in that Kompira, the deity worshipped at the shrine, has never been truly identified, and confusion reigns as to his true identity—which in no way discourages those who pray to him for safety in travel.

It was at Kennin-ji that tea first became popular as a beverage that alerts but does not intoxicate. When Priest Eisai established the Kennin-ji monastery, he reintroduced tea as a beverage from China, a refreshment that had previously not received the welcome it was to engender from this time on. Tea moved eventually from the monastery into daily life, and special establishments were created for the enjoyment of the beverage. While the ochaya (Honorable Tea Houses) of the area serve a more potent beverage today, the origin of tea culture is still remembered not only in the formal tea ceremony but in the historical procession each spring to commemorate the bringing of the first, tender tea leaves to Kyoto from Uji each year for the benefit of the Shogun—a procession still celebrated as a remembrance of times past.

1 CHINKO-JI TEMPLE

The Rokudo-mairi, the “Six Roads Pilgrimage,” is the legendary road that links the world of the living and the world of the dead, or the spirit world. One old belief held that if you were to stand in the middle of this road while beating a gong and calling out the name of a deceased family member, the voice and sound would guide the ancestral spirit back to this world for the annual visit of such spirits to their former homes.

The Rokudo-mairi is thought to be near the Chinko-ji Temple, which is also known as the Rokudo-san, the “Six Realms of the Dead Temple.” The association of the temple with the road of legend can be attributed to the fact that the Toribeno Cemetery once extended from Kiyomizu-dera and the adjacent Nishi Otani mausoleum to the Rokuhara-mitsu-ji area, which lies north of Gojo-dori (Fifth Street) and between Higashi-oji-dori and the Kamo-gawa River to the west. This area was known as the “land of the dead,” a place where the bodies of those who died without family were often abandoned, and a pilgrimage to Toribeno was a symbolic journey through Rokudo (Six Realms of the Dead). The small Rokudo-no-Tsuji square in front of Chinko-ji is said to stand at the beginning of the six avenues leading to the several levels of hell. This connection of the temple with the supposed avenue led to the custom among the poorer people of Kyoto of praying here for the souls of their deceased loved ones.

Chinko-ji is a small, rather nondescript temple which lies north of Matsubara-dori. Walk north from Matsubara-dori into the short street that leads to the small square formed by the Chinko-ji Temple buildings on the east, north and west sides. The buildings at Chinko-ji are only open occasionally, thus it is best to inquire at the Tourist Information Center downtown as to their times of admission.

In the middle, before the Hondo (Main Hall), is a modern, stylized sotoba (five-part memorial stone), 16 feet (4.5 m) tall, within a stone fence and with pine trees along its side. On the left (west) side of the square is a small shrine, and just beyond it to the north is a plastic-roofed area covering a large Jizo image with a stone lantern before it and a stone flower holder on either side. Around this central unit are some 200 smaller Jizo image or inscribed stones. (Images of Jizo are often placed in cemeteries or places associated with death since he is a protector of the dead.)

On the right side as one enters the square is a small kura (storage building) and then a building that houses those connected with the other world (see below). This right side of the entrance to the square was a favorite meeting place for the itinerant nuns who gathered here in the mid-summer Bon season, when the souls of the dead return to this world for a brief stay. Here they would solicit alms by exhibiting picture screens of hell to the people who gathered to pray for the souls of the deceased. (The “floating population” of Japan in the period after the 1500s, despite the attempts to control the movement of the populace by the Tokugawa government, consisted of pious monks and nuns and artists raising funds for their own benefit.)

The hall beyond the kura can be looked into from the outside even when it is not open. It is divided into two parts: the left section contains an image of Emma, the king of hell, with an attendant on either side. The right half of the building holds a statue of Ono-no-Takamura, a noted poet of the first half of the 800s, whose fame as a writer led many to believe that he was a messenger to and the secretary of the ruler of hell itself. He is accompanied by two emissaries from hell. At the north end of the square is the Hondo (Main Hall), which contains a statue of Yakushi, a particularly important Buddha for this area since it is believed 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. A separately carved wooden necklace has been placed upon its chest. In its left hand it holds the magic jewel associated with Jizo.

3. A seated painted wooden image of the sculptor Unkei, a rosary in his hands. It is thought that this may also be a self-portrait.

4. A 13th century seated image of Taira-no-Kiyomori (1118–81) reading a sutra scroll is here realistically represented—but as a monk, a role beyond his moral capabilities. The sutra scroll is held in both his hands as he peruses it, and his sleeves flow in rich drapery from his arms.

5. A life-sized Jizo by the 11th century sculptor Jocho. The deity appears in the form of a young monk with long sleeves, a fly whisk of hair in his left hand. His empty right hand would once have held the mystic gem which Jizo normally holds. The eyes of the image are of glass. A fretwork aureole with small Buddhas stands behind the image.

6. The famed painted wood image of Priest Kuya by Kosho, the fourth of Unkei’s sons, is preserved in the Treasury. Kuya is seen as the itinerant priest that he was in life: he is clothed in his short, shabby deerskin covering, his feet shod with straw sandals. A round gong hangs down his chest, supported from a harness around his neck. In his right hand he holds a T-shaped wooden hammer to beat the gong as he dances and sings the praises of Amida, and in his left hand he holds his wooden staff with its antler top. From his mouth, on a wire, issues a row of six tiny Amida images, symbolizing Kuya’s constant repetition of the Nembutsu in praise of Amida. These six images represent the six characters of the spoken Nembutsu (na-mu-a-mi-da-butsu). Thus Kosho has, in a sense, carved the voice of Kuya as he chants the Nembutsu while on a pilgrimage.

A realistic portrait, down to the wrinkled and worn deerskin, the prominent Adam’s apple of his neck, the veins in his arms and legs, and even the seams on the inside of his sleeves—all are portrayed in a life-like manner. Here, the “Saint of the People” is represented as he would have appeared to the people of his time. An innovative and original presentation, it was created in a novel and successful manner and represents the climax of Kamakura realism in sculpture.

7. An image of a member of the Taira era wearing an eboshi (nobleman’s tall hat) on his head, a formal representation of a governmental figure of the middle ages.

8. A figure of Kobo Daishi (Kukai) seated on a Chinese chair, his shoes beneath the chair. This realistic but restrained portrait was created by Chokai, a disciple of the master sculptor Kaikei, between 1249 and 1256. In his right hand Kukai holds a rosary and in his left hand is a thunderbolt. This portrait sculpture is modeled after an image in the To-ji Temple created by Kosho, but it is a stiffer presentation of the great Buddhist priest.

3 EBISU SHRINE

The Rokuhara district has developed as a commercial center through the years, and thus it is only appropriate that a shrine to Ebisu, the Shinto patron of success in business, should be enshrined here. Thus we move from a saint, who was concerned with helping people to Amida’s Western Paradise after death, to a deity whose concern is wealth in this life. (Ebisu Shrine is located west and then north of Matsubara-dori. After returning to Matsubara-dori, turn left and then make a right (north) turn on Yamato-oji-dori, the next through street. Ebisu Shrine is on the left hand side just ahead. The shrine is open during daylight hours without entry fee.)

Ebisu, the god of wealth, depicted at Ebisu Shrine.

Ebisu is one of the seven gods of good fortune, the only one of the seven to originate from Japan. He is the patron of business and merchants, thereby making him a very popular deity. A chubby fellow, he appears with a fishing line and a fish in his hand. His shrine in the Gion district is behind two torii, with the usual stone lanterns and the guardian koma-inu (lion-dogs) before the second torii. Shrine buildings line the left (south) side of the precincts, while a dragon fountain at the water purification basin is on the right. Straight ahead is the Heiden (Offertory), behind a wooden fence, on which is a large drum. The Honden (Main Building) enshrining the god spirit is behind the Heiden. To the left of the rear portion of the Honden is a life-sized statue of a white horse; white horses are often found at Shinto shrines since they are said to be favorites of the gods. Beyond is a formal gateway to the street on the west.

The Ebisu Shrine is most noted for its ceremonies, which occur throughout the year. The festival-loving Ebisu and his joyous ceremonies reflect one aspect of the Japanese temperament when it comes to religion: the acceptance of the life of this world and the pleasure that can be enjoyed while one is here. On the other hand, there is the contemplative aspect of the Japanese nature as well, and it can be realized at the Kennin-ji Zen monastery, just a short walk north along Yamato-oji-dori.

4 KENNIN-JI TEMPLE

As an active monastery, the interior of the monastic buildings of the Kennin-ji Temple and its subtemples are generally not open to the public, but they may be visited in the morning if permission is obtained in advance in writing from the temple office. Generally, permission is granted for morning visits if one’s purpose is of a serious nature. (The temple Hondo, a few subtemples, and the temple Treasury are open to the public from November 1st to 10th from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The grounds are open to the public daily without charge.)

Kennin-ji was the first Zen temple established in Japan and, as such, it was the head temple for Zen monasteries in Kyoto for many years. The temple was begun by Priest Eisai in 1202 at the request of the Shogun, and it is here that Eisei (1141–1215) established the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan.

When he was 14 years old, Eisai went to the monastic community of Mount Hiei to enter the religious life. Here he studied the Tendai version of Buddhism. Achieving the goal of many Japanese monks, he journeyed to China, the source of Japanese Buddhism, in 1168 to study at Tendai monasteries. He made a second trip in 1187, not returning to Japan until 1191 when he settled at a temple in Kyushu, where he began to teach the doctrines of Zen Buddhism that he had encountered in China. With his belief that Zen would protect the state during Mappo (see below), his doctrines attracted the attention of Shogun Minamoto-no-Yoriie, and the Shogun invited him to Kyoto to head Kennin-ji and to establish the Rinzai sect of Bud-dhism there. In time, Eisai was to establish Zen monasteries in Kamakura as well, the seat of government of the Shoguns. At his death, Eisai was buried at Kennin-ji.

Chouontei Garden, nestled behind the main building at Kennin-ji, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

Eisai lived during Mappo (The Age of the Disappearance of the Buddhist Law), a degenerate period that was thought to have begun about 1050, a period in which men would realize the inability of man to understand Buddhist doctrine or belief. In those degenerate days, one could no longer depend on one’s own mind or one’s own efforts, nor could one call on Amida or on scripture or ceremonies for help. What was needed, according to Eisai, was an intuitive method of spiritual training in order to obtain a lofty transcendence over worldly care, a transcendence of the individual that would permit the religious seeker to reach the fundamental unity that pervades all existence and the universe. The mental discipline involved in this method would develop a mind receptive to the basic truths of the universe, a mind which was under control and free from the fear of physical danger from without or passion from within. A mind under such control was worthy of an abbot— or a soldier, as the military of the Kamakura period (1192–1333) came to believe.

The encouragement of the growth of Zen monasteries was one aspect of the Shoguns’ policy. In the case of Kennin-ji, its physical size was so huge that it was made a national project. Its construction was completed in 1205. Unfortunately, the growth of military government would in time lead to war and the fall of the Kamakura government. Burned in 1256, rebuilt in 1257–9, the monastery was enriched by the Minamoto, the Hojo and the Ashikaga rulers in turn. At the height of its power, it had 53 subtemples. The wars of the Sengoku Jidai (Age of the Country at War) in the 15th and 16th centuries, particularly the Onin Wars of 1467–77, led to the virtual destruction of Kyoto. Kennin-ji was spared during this time, but in 1556, in another outbreak of fighting, the temple was almost completely destroyed.

A painting of a dragon in the Chinese style by Kaihoku Yushu decorates a ceiling at Kennin-ji.

Many of the present Kennin-ji buildings date from the 18th century or later. Only the Chokushi-mon (Imperial Messenger’s Gate), also called the Yatate-mon (Arrow Gate) from the scars left upon it during the civil wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, remains from the early period of the temple’s existence. This black gate at the southern edge of the temple precincts is said to have once been a portion of the nearby Rokuhara headquarters of the Taira clan.

In 1763, the restoration of the Kennin-ji Temple began in earnest, both through new construction and by moving of buildings that belonged to other temples to the Kennin-ji site. The Butsu-den (Main Hall or Buddha Hall), originally at the Tofuku-ji Temple just south of the main area of Kyoto, was put in place in 1763 and was handsomely refurbished. What is now the Abbot’s apartment (Hojo) originally was a temple building from the Ankoku-ji Temple in Hiroshima Prefecture, a structure built by the first Ashikaga Shogun, Takauji, in the 14th century. It was moved from Ankoku-ji in the 1590s. Near the south gate of the temple grounds is the Marishi-ten Shrine, which was built in 1327 by Seisetsu, a Chinese priest who is said to have brought the clay from China to create the image of Marishi (Queen of Heaven) with its white face and colorful clothes, and who is here riding upon seven golden boars. The shrine has always been a popular one among the geisha of the Gion district.

Among the most noted treasures of the monastery are the paintings of Kaihoku Yusho (1533–1615). In the late 1590s, a few years before his death, Priest Ekei, the abbot of the Ankoku-ji, moved to Kennin-ji and, with the financial help of Hideyoshi, he began the restoration of the fire-and storm-damaged Abbot’s Quarters. In 1598, he had his artist friend Kaihoku Yusho create five sets of painted sliding doors (fusuma) for the Hojo. Yusho is noted for the directness and vitality of the straight line, which succeeds in simplifying technique—as would be expected in paintings for Zen monasteries. He painted landscapes and dragons at the Kennin-ji Temple, which holds his largest body of work. In 1934, a typhoon inflicted serious damage on the temple, and the paintings were remounted as 50 hanging scrolls. Done in the Chinese “impressionistic” style, the paintings present vistas of temple buildings with hints of trees and hills about the structures. They are now in various subtemples of the complex.

The Zenkyo-an subtemple in the grounds of the Kennin-ji was also restored in 1599 after the damage suffered by the main temple. Here, Yusho created a dozen panels of pine, bamboo and plum trees in black ink on a gold leaf ground, based on a theme in Chinese paintings. Other screens by Yusho are in Kanzen-ji (another subtemple), as is a pair of six-fold screens in the Reito-in in ink and light color. The subjects of the Reito-in screens are those of scholars talking or viewing the distant scene. Many of these paintings can be viewed during the November showing of the temple’s treasures.

Kennin-ji is noted not only for the Zen faith which was here brought to Japan but also the monastery’s connection with tea. Although Kobo Daishi (Kukai) introduced tea into Japan from China in the 800s, it did not become fashionable until it was reintroduced by Eisai. Eisai brought the plant and beverage to Japan for religious purposes, since it helped to keep monks alert during long nightly devotions. It also served as a mild medicine in certain illnesses. Eisai wrote a book about the value of tea, and a simple tea ceremony that began at Kennin-ji was later developed into the highly formal and stylized approach of Sen-no-Rikyu and others in the late 16th century and thereafter. Legend holds that Eisai’s devotion to tea was supported by the young Shogun Sanetomo when Eisai weaned him from wine to tea drinking.

Each spring the Shogun required the tea dealers of Uji to present their first tea leaves in Kyoto, a crop that arrived packed in large ceramic jars. In memory of those times, a procession of tea jars is carried each year on May 2nd from Kennin-ji to Yasaka Shrine along Yamato-ojo-dori and then Shijo-dori.

5 YASUI KOMPIRA SHRINE

At the beginning of this walk, it was indicated that a mystery surrounded the Yasui Kompira Shrine, where this walk ends. Thus, perhaps, it is well to move from so serious an institution as Kennin-ji to a shrine that can insure one’s well-being when traveling. The Yasui Kompira Shrine is between Higashi-oji-dori and Kennin-ji, to the west of the Yasaka Pagoda. The shrine can most easily be located by starting from the Higashiyama-Yasui bus stop (midway between the Kiyomizu-michi and the Shijo-dori stops) and then by walking to the west. Turn left at the first through street, and the second street on the left leads to the shrine. (The shrine is open during daylight hours. Its museum (Kompira-Emakan) is generally open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but is closed on Mondays.)

Kompira is a deity about whose identification there is confusion. (Kompira originally was the Indian deity Kumhira, the crocodile god of the Ganges River in India.) Some say he is one of the various Shinto deities, while others claim he was a nearly Japanese emperor. Nonetheless, he is a being who is worshipped and who is found to be efficacious in answering prayers from his believers despite his anonymous nature.

In the 9th century, a temple to Kompira was erected in Shikoku, perhaps by Kukai (Kobo Daishi), and a number of similar temples sprang up in time all over Japan. In 1872, the Meiji government made the Shikoku Temple a Shinto shrine (as were other Kompira units) to Okuninushi-no-mikoto, god of Izumo, but it remains unclear as to who the deity is who resides there. Be that as it may, Kompira is a very popular deity who is invoked by travelers and seamen in times of need or in gratitude for past favors.

Down the narrow street from Higashi-ojidori, you arrive at a shrine that is not unlike other Shinto shrines. The Heiden (Offertory) has racks to the north and south of its platform on which ema have been hung. Ema are prayer boards on which one writes a prayer or a wish. They usually bear a depiction of the deity or of a scene connected with the deity of the shrine. Thousands of ema, some of which are centuries old, are on view in the Shrine Museum. Some of these ema have traditional horse pictures, while others are of sumo wrestlers or boats, since Kompira is the seaman’s patron. Painted on wood, some of these ema are by noted artists of the Edo period (1603– 1868), when such pictures were given to shrines by devotees.

Beyond the Heiden to the west is the Honden (Spirit Hall) with its Kara (Chinese-style) roof. Additional ancillary buildings are on either side of the main shrine buildings, the museum being to the east (in front of the Heiden). A curious stone with a hole in its center is to the left of the Heiden. It is covered with fude, the name stickers that pilgrims usually affix to the gates of Buddhist temples, an indication to the deity that one has given reverence to him. Strangely enough, the shrine now has a Glass Gallery with objects of Art Nouveau glass.

GETTING THERE

Begin the tour at Chinko-ji. The remaining sites are nearby. To reach Chinko-ji, take bus 206 or 207, which travels north and south on Higashioji-dori, to the Kiyomizu-michi bus stop (the same stop as in Tour 1). From there, walk west on Matsubara-dori (the westward extension of Kiyomizu-michi) for one long block. Turn north to Chinko-ji, which lies at the end of this side street.