Stone Carvings

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Stone Carving from Temple
Miroku-Ji 弥勒寺

Nagasaki prefecture, 長崎県大村市 弥勒寺町


Fudo Myo-O Hi 不動明王碑



This is an old stone memorial, which people call "Fudo Myo-O", but the carving from the middle of the Kamakura period is almost lost.
The stone is andesite 安山岩 and about 168 cm high and 76 cm at its widest place. On the front is the carved figure of a seated Fudo.

The figure below has been produced by fukusige, using his computer graphics facilities.



source : fukusige


fukusige : 弥勒寺跡


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From a Card Game introducing Moriya Town :
守谷のふるさとかるた.. Moriya Furusato Karuta

Most of these cards introduce a haiku or senryu and a famous place of the town, including the relationship to the famous warlord Taira no Masakado.



sono mukashi hito sawagasete obake-ishi

long long ago
it had the people bewildered ...
a haunted stone

One day in July 1975, children playing in the area found a "HUMAN FACE" had appeared on a stone memorial of a Narita Fudo Myo-O stone memorial. It was the time of the O-Bon festival and the whole village got very excited about this finding.

It is said to have been the face of the famous and feared warlord Taira no Masakado, who had made a prayer here to win a fight, but had his head severed by Fujiware no Hidesato 藤原秀郷 instead. Masakado appeared here to show his eternal grudge and hatred.
source : 　www.city.moriya.ibaraki.jp

On the same link of Moriyama town there is another card of a temple with a reference to Masakado and Fudo Myo-O.
Kuyoo no mon, 九曜の紋, the family crest of nine days. The big circle represents the sun and the eight smaller ones are the days of the week from monday to sunday, the other two represent Shakyamuni Buddha and Fudo Myo-O.
Masakado brought the belief in the stars to the area of Moriyama.



The crest is also called :
Kuyoo Hoshi Mon ..（九曜星紋）or Kuyoo Mon （九曜紋）



I have more about Taira no Masakado HERE:
The famous head mound of Masakado in Tokyo


Wikipedia : Taira no Masakado, died 940



Stone Memorial in honor of Kobayashi Issa

行く歳や空の名残りを守谷まで
iku toshi ya sora no nagori o Moriya made

the year passes by -
leaving part from the sky
to Moriya

Tr. Nakamura Sakuo



Sairin-Ji sora no nagori o ... Issa no hi

Temple Sairin-Ji
leaving part from the sky ...
stone memorial of Issa


Issa stayed at the temple Sairin-Ji　西林寺 for quite a while and they had many haiku meetings there.

Moritani
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Back to the Fudo Stones !





”不動明王碑”
CLICK for more stone memorials !


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Kuyoo Mon ... 九曜紋 ...Nine Stars Crest ... and Taira no Masakado 平将門


Iwa, Fudo Iwa : Stones and Rocks like Fudo 不動岩

Magaibutsu Stone Carvings 磨崖仏不動

and
Jomo Karuta (Joomoo Karuta) 上毛かるた.
A card game from Gunma prefecture


Alphabetical Index of the Daruma Museum
worldkigo
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