Showing posts with label deity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deity. Show all posts

7/11/2006

Medicine Buddha

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Quote From : Exotic India Art


The Tibetan word for Dharma is 'chos' which also means to cure or heal.

Indeed Tibetans have traditionally taken a deeply spiritual approach towards healing, the potency of which is only now being recognized by the entire world. When they speak of Dharma, what is implied is not just the traditional form and practice of orthodox Buddhism but the heroic effort to progress spiritually out of unconsciousness and into full awareness. The practice of Dharma is an essential means for remedying the mental and emotional obscurations that prevent enlightenment. Verily thus the Buddha of healing is shown here seated on a lotus pedestal. The lotus is a symbol of the total abandonment of samsara, so only those who have entered upon the transcendental path are represented enthroned on a lotus flower.



This smoothly sculpted Buddha is golden-hued, glowing with an inner radiance. Even though the expression on the face is supremely calm and serene, the whole solid body seems to be bursting with a kind of pregnant energy eager to burst forth. The Buddha's drape held in place with the help of the knot at the midriff seems to be the only element restraining this vigor from escaping. This is nothing but the potential healing energy inherent in each of us.

In the highest traditions of Tibetan and Nepalese art, the body of the Buddha is strong and well-formed, but even then there is no trace of hardness or rigidity. Rather there is a fluidity to the whole composition accentuated by the folds and falls of his drape, which collect finally like a stream of nectar at the Great Buddha's feet. The delicate, sensitive fingers too point to the high calibre of the artist.

Tibetan doctors traditionally perform rituals in front of an image of the Medicine Buddha, believing it to grant potency to their medications.

http://www.exoticindia.com/product/ZL76/

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Eight Brothers of the Medicine Buddha



http://www.exoticindia.com/product/TK17/

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The Cosmos of Healing (Tibetan Medicinal Painting)



http://www.exoticindia.com/product/TG43/



Materia Medica of Vegetable Origin



http://www.exoticindia.com/product/TJ29/

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Front View of Human Anatomy

This painting shows the anterior view of the human anatomy. In the painting bones are classified into twenty-three different groupings.



For the cranial bones there are five groups: the skull, occipital bones nasal bones teeth and mandible.

For the trunk there are nine groups: vertebrae, sacrum, coccyx, hipbones, shoulder bones, collarbones, sternum, ribs and costal cartilages.

For the arms there are three groups: humerus; forearm, including the radius and ulna; and the hand, including carpals, metacarpals and phalanges.

For the legs thee are five groups: femur; lower leg, including tibia and fibula; patella; calcaneus; and the foot, including the tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges.

Finally there is a single group comprising the fingernails and toenails.

All the bones are connected by 12 major joints and 210 minor joints.

The human body is covered with thirty-five million pores, and on the head there are twenty one thousand hairs.

Also shown in this painting are the five full organs (heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys), and the six hollow organs (stomach, small intestine, large intestine, gall bladder, urinary bladder and reproductive organs).

http://www.exoticindia.com/product/TG51/

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


More Tibetan Buddhas of Medicine


Copyright © 2006, ExoticIndiaArt
http://www.exoticindia.com/


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Medicine Buddha with Attendants



Tibet, roughly 15th century
Thangka, mineral pigments with gold on prepared fabric
Height 104 cm, width 84 cm (approximate)
© Leiko Coyle Asian Art

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Peaceful and Wrathful Deity Body of the Bon Religion
Tibet, 20th century
Pigments on cloth
Height 104.1 cm, width 66.7 cm
Rubin Museum of Art



© www.orientations.com.hk, May 2008

The power centers in the body remind me of the chakras of India.


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Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing in Japan
by Gabi Greve, Darumamuseum



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Alphabetical Index of the Daruma Museum

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7/04/2006

Akakura Fudo

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Akakura Fudo 赤倉不動



Fudo Myoo ("the immutable one"), the Buddhist divinity of fire, is one of the most important beings venerated at Akakura Mountain Shrine. He is known by his flaming sword and rope, with which he slashes away material connections and binds up evil-doers. His sword is used at Akakura in the Sword of Fudo healing ritual several times each year.

Fudo is the principal deity of the Five angry Lords of Light, venerated at Akakura in the Godaimyoo (Five Lords) hall. Fudo serves as tutelary deity to many of the shrine's kamisama spirit mediums. He has intimate associations with the dragon divinity and with the waterfall of Fudo, one of the most important sites of mountain ascetic discipline (shugyo). Several votive paintings at Akakura depict Fudo.


Akakura Fudo Waterfall 赤倉・不動滝
Akakura Mountain Shrine

- quote
The waterfall of Fudo, located within Akakura gorge, is located near the base of Akakura gorge. It is the most common destination of those undertaking shugyo (ascetic discipline) at Akakura Mountain Shrine. Here, worshippers pray intensely, reciting Hannya Shingyo and the Fudo-son-ken-Kudoku-no-mon prayer to the fire divinity Fudo Myoo.



At the waterfall, ascetics may experience revelatory visions of Fudo or of the mountain's principal divinity Akakura Daigongen in his various incarnations, including that of a dragon (a being intimately associated with water, rain and waterfalls.)


Akakura Daigongen, the principal divinity worshipped at Akakura Mountain Shrine, has multiple incarnations and forms.
He is at times seen as a young man, as a dragon (or pairs of dragons), as a beautiful woman, or even as a pair of trees or birds. His shotai (true form) is usually considered to be as a white-haired old man, as repesented in this shrine painting. -


On May 1st, when the gorge is still covered with snow and ice, the assembled shrine congregation collectively climbs to this spot and hangs a great shimenawa (sacred rice straw rope) above the waterall, in the Mountain Opening Ceremony (Yamabiraki)

The waterfall is depicted in several votive paintings in the shrine, as in this image of the shrine foundress undertaking water discipline (mizu gyo) within its icy waters. As Carmen Blacker notes in The Catalpa Bow, the dedicated medium is believed to possess such great internal heat that she may experience the waterfall as a fire, intimately associated with Fudo Myoo's own flaming sword.




In this painting, the praying foundress, to the left of the waterfall, beholds a vision of vision of Akakura Daigongen (in his incarnation as a white haired old man) floating on a golden cloud.

Akakura Mountain Gorge, looms large in the iconography and ritual practice of the shrine. It is characterized by many dramatic volcanic and geological features, and is compared by many worshippers to a woman's genitalia, "the thing of a woman". Through it runs Akakura river, the source of the life-giving water of the gods. The gorge also spatially orients those undertaking mountain asceticism (shugyo).

source : Ellen Schattschneider : immortal wishes:

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- quote
Fudo Myoo Menuki
Fudo Myoo, the Buddhist divinity of fire, is one of the most important beings venerated at Akakura Mountain Shrine.



He is known by his flaming sword and rope, with which he slashes away material connections and binds up evil-doers.
- source : www.kriscutlery.com


. Menuki 目抜き  . sword fitting .
Menuki are pairs of small metal ornaments, secured one to each side of the hilt of the sword by means of a braid that covers the hilt.


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- trying to locate the mountain, since there are many with this name in Japan.
- reference -


Mt. Akakuradake 赤倉岳 (あかくらだけ)
- google search
CLICK for more photos


- Top of the Mountain


photo by tenten mushi


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- In Aomori 青森 

Akakurazawa 赤倉沢 at Mount Iwaki 岩木山

赤倉御殿 - 1433 meters

- source : www.yamareco.com


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There seem to be two mountains with this name in the Hakoda Mountain range, Aomori:
- Northern Group:
Mount Akakuradake (赤倉岳 Akakura-dake) 1521 m
- Southern Group:
Mount Akakuradake (赤倉岳 Akakura-dake) 1290 m

The Hakkōda Mountains (八甲田山系 Hakkōda-sankei)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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. 津軽弘法大師霊場 - Tsugaru Kobo Daishi Reijo
Pilgrimage to 23 Kobo Daishi temples in Tsugaru .


第二十一番札所 赤倉山 金剛寺(あかくらさん こんごうじ)
21 - 赤倉山 Akakurasan - Kongooji 金剛寺 Kongo-Ji

平川市八幡崎宮本141
Miyamoto-141 Yawatasaki, Hirakawa-shi, Aomori

The main statue is Monju Bosatsu 文殊菩薩.

Legend knows that an old man with white hair, riding a dragon, appeared in a dream and asked for a temple hall to be built here.

Kobo Daishi roamed this region in 820 陸奥国御巡錫 and also passed the
Akakura Reijo 赤倉霊場 Akakura Sacred Region.
He stood in front of a huge boulder and recited

「三世十方の諸仏、若しこの地に密教広まりなば、
此処に我が足跡を印し給え」

(All the sacred Buddhas, be my witness, let me promote the wisdom of Mikkyo Buddhism in this new land.
As a proof, show my footprint when I step on it.)

and as he stepped on the boulder, the footprint of his straw sandal became visible.

In 1960 the first 大師一代堂 Daishi Hall was erected in his honor, followed by the
大師堂 Daishi Do Hall in 1965.
In 1980 the main hall of temple 金剛寺 Kongo-Ji was built.



Every year at the 15th of June (now the third Sunday) for the beginning of the mountain climbing season a special fire ritual for the safety of the climbers are held
- yamabiraki 山開き
赤倉山霊場山開会 柴灯大護摩供執行

The uppermost temple in the compound, 金剛寺奥の院 Oku no In, there is a statue of Monju Bosatsu 文殊菩薩 as the personal protector of people born in the year of the rabbit.
ichidai mamori honzon 一代守り本尊 personal protector deity

- Chant of the temple
ながき夜の 夢さませとや 赤倉の暗きこころに光明さしくる
怠らず 願うこころの 赤倉や 赤き血潮に勇む老いの身


- Yearly Festivals
新2月25日
卯年生れ文殊菩薩/五穀豊就大菩薩/開運厄除星祭 初祭典

旧9月23日 - 山納 - End of the Climbing Season.

旧10月21日 - 大師講 四国八十八ヶ所お砂踏
O-sunafumi of the Shikoku 88 Henro temples

- seal of the temple, dedicated also to
Hotei
 布袋, God of Good Luck.


- Homepage of the temple (with a map)
- source : kongoji.net


. Personal Protector / Ichidai Mamori Honzon .

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Mount Akakura, a region for Shugendo mountain ascetics,
lies at the "back side" of Mount Iwaki
赤倉は岩木山の裏の顔



赤倉大権現、または赤倉大神
神社の前には三十三観音や弘法大師像があった。

大石神社 Oishi Jinja and then
- 津軽赤倉山神社 Tsugaru Akakura Jinja
It has been built by 工藤むら Kudo Mura, who also made this statue of a Dragon-Fudo:




弘法大師や不動明王等も一緒に祭っている
Kobo Daishi and Fudo Myo-O are venerated here too.



Even further up the mountain is Akakura shrine



Beside it are more small sactuaries, dedicated to Jizo Bosatsu and others.

Along the road, another Kobo Daishi statue in white robes



next to a statue of "Yama no Kami", deity of the mountains.
弘法大師と山の神

And on top of the mountain, Akakura Shrine



with a three-storied pagoda.
Akakura Sacred Area 赤倉霊場
- source : www41.tok2.com/home/kanihei5


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7/03/2006

Enku

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Enku and his Fudo Statues 円空仏


円空作不動明王坐像
Seated Fudo Myo-O, about 30 cm high


総高29.2cmの杉の一木造りで頭頂部に蓮華をいだき、左肩に弁髪をたらし右手に宝剣、左手に羅索を持ち岩に座っている。円空仏は北埼玉地区にはほとんどなく珍しい。

© Kazo City, Saitama
http://www.city.kazo.lg.jp/shogai_k/40200-10.asp

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A rather small, smiling Fudo
明王像は、筋肉隆々で怒った顔のハズなのに、円空さんだとお不動さんも笑っちゃうんですね。


http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/gokuneko/diary/?ctgy=7


円空研究(5)新装普及版 Enku Study Group, Volume 5


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「不動明王」日光市 清滝寺蔵
Fudo Myo-O from Nikko



More Enku Statues on this LINK
http://www.pref.toyama.jp/branches/3044/exh_0501.htm

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地蔵院円空作不動明王像
Saitama, Temple Jizo-In




総高 complete hight 48.7cm、像奥13.3cm、像幅22.5cm。
見沼区東大宮1-82-2 地蔵院 (大宮区高鼻町2-1-2 さいたま市立博物館寄託)
Saitama City Page

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Enku and Bishamonten
毘沙門天立像,不動明王坐像



岡崎市 Okasaki Town
https://www.city.okazaki.aichi.jp/museum/DB/KIKAKU/A/a025%20bunkazai.htm


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Enku Woddblock by Munakata Shiko



画寸 45㎝×30㎝.... 額寸 58.5㎝×46.5㎝
http://www.daihorin-kaku.com/bijutsu/akiyama.htm

Painting of Fudo by Munakata

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Fudo Myoo(Enku) ©1997 Michael Hofmann





http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~ttstudio/hof-10.html
http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~ttstudio/hof-11.html


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NHK Bi no Tsubo: Enku and Mokujiki , July 2006
File13 円空と木喰 : NHK 美の壷
http://www.nhk.or.jp/tsubo/archives.html

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. Welcome to Master Carver Enku 円空 ! .
His own BLOG !


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4/09/2006

Ta no Kami Yama no Kami

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. Ta no Kami 田の神 God of the Fields .
. Yama no Kami 山の神 God of the Moutain .
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Ta no Kami, God of the Rice Fields 田の神さま

paddy field kami, god of the rice paddies, spirit of the rice field
sanbai さんばい, see below.



In rural areas the polar structure of the cult of the field- or mountain deity (ta no kami / yama no kami) plays an important role. Before the spring sowing the figure of the deity is carried from the woods above the village to the house, where it is set up in the cult niche (tokonoma) to preside over a festive banquet.

Finally it is carried to a particular place in the fields, from where it will protect the growing rice. In autumn the festival procedure is reversed.

The Shinto cult system is evidently rooted in Japanese prehistory. Its origins must be seen essentially in pre-Buddhistic agricultural rites (e.g. ta no kami/ yama no kami) and territorial village- or clan-cults (uji, ujigami).
http://home.worldcom.ch/negenter/410JapHouseTxE2.html

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Yama no Kami 山の神 has only one eye
Amanomahitotsu no kami 天目一箇神(あめのまひとつのかみ)
Amatsumara 天津麻羅


source : google.co.jp

- quote -
Amatsumara 天津麻羅
Other names: Amenomahitotsu no kami (Kogo shūi)
A kami of ironworking (kajishin).
Kojiki states that as the blacksmith of the Plain of High Heaven, Amatsumara was called upon to refine the iron used for making mirrors, using the "hard rocks of heaven" and the "metal mountain of heaven" located above the "Tranquil River of Heaven" (Amenoyasukawa). Together with Ishikoridome, he was said to have assisted in the making of the mirror used to lure Amaterasu from her hiding place in the rock cave of heaven. The name Amatsumara means ma-ura ("eye divination"), which some believe means "one-eyed," a reference to an occupational hazard of blacksmiths.

Kogo shūi describes Amatsumara as a follower of Futodama; it also states that at the time of Amaterasu's hiding away in the rock cave of heaven, Amenomahitotsu no kami ("the one-eyed kami of heaven") was assigned to make metal weapons, and that during the reign of Emperor Sujin, the descendants of that kami were, together with the descendants of Ishikoridome, put in charge of recasting the divine mirror and sword.

According to an "alternate writing" included in Nihongi, Amenomahitotsu was designated by Takamimusuhi as a metalworker to serve the kami of Izumo. From these incidents, Amenomahitotsu is recognized as the same kami as Amatsumara.

According to Sendai kuji hongi, among the gods who subjected themselves to Ninigi at the time of his descent from heaven (tenson kōrin) were kami named Amatsumara or Amatsumaura. Nihongi's record of the reign of Emperor Suizei likewise mentions the name Yamato no Kanuchi Amatsumaura is mentioned. The name Amatsuma(u)ra refers to the ancestral tutelary (sojin) of the blacksmith occupational groups, and was apparently also used as a common name.
- source : Mori Mizue, 2005, Kokugakuin

This deity with one eye and one leg comes to the fields to protect them before the harvest, now in the form of a kakashi, with one leg and one eye.
Even the modern yellow plastic balloons with one black ring, which hang in the fields, are a modern version of this deity with one eye.




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Noto Peninsula 能登半島 Noto Hantoo

ae no koto, aenokoto あえのこと / アエノコト / 饗事
Entertaining the God of the Fields

Nowadays there are few families who continue this ritual, which is passed on from father to son. It is an intangible cultural property of Japan and the UNESCO.

CLICK for more photos

On November 5 of the old lunar calendar, now December 5, the God of the Fields is invited into the home by the elder of the family, clad in formal hakama trousers and a robe with the family crest. He gets a great offering from the harvest. The elder sits in front of the tokonoma, where a scroll with the blind deity is hung. He tells him all the things. One important item is a two-pronged large radish, to symbolize fertility. All food offerings are given in two portions, for the God of the Fields and his Wife. There are two sets of chopsticks for the deities.

CLICK for original Link . d.hatena.je.jp The God of the Fields partakes of the meal and is then ushered to the bathroom, to take a bath. Again, the elder tells him all the things in the place and then lets him enjoy the bath. He is then taken back to the living room and resides in the tokonoma. The whole family partakes of the offered meal now.

The God of the Fields resides with the family until the next year, on the 9th day of the first lunar month, now February 9.

On this day, the god receives the New Year greetings, gets another bath and is then shown out of the house to the field. The elder takes a sacred pine twig and a flask of sake to the fields.

On the next day, Feburary 10, the elder performs the ritual of the first hoe

. kuwa hajime, kuwahajime 鍬始
kuwa matsuri 鍬祭り festival of the hoe

and on the next day, February 11, the 
tauchi shoogatsu 田打正月(たうちしょうがつ)
ritual New Year ploughing



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The Field Gods of Kagoshima, Kyushu

鹿児島の田の神さあ ta no kansaa
tanokamisaa ta no kamisaa
Ta no Kami and their counterpart, Yama no Kami, the God of the mountains are popular all over Japan. Usually in Winter the Field God retreats to the mountains and comes back in Spring.
In Kyushu, the Ta no kansaa 田の神さあ is still venerated in more than 300 communities. In some areas, he is not only responsible for the fertility of the fields but also the humans. It is custom to carry a stone statue of the God to a couple that has just married and leave the stone statue there for one year. He sits in the Tokonoma, the alcove, and is venerated every day.

After one year, when hopefully the first sone of the couple has been born, he is carried off in a humorous festival to the next couple that has just married. He has his face and features colored anew and then is placed in a bamboo carrier decorated with seasonal flowers in the yard of the house. The unmarried men under 25 of the village, dressed in female cloths, with huge hats and painted their face black, dance around the statue. Then they smear the faces of all visitors black too and finally carry off the statue.
The black face will protect the people from eveil during the following year.

The statue is first carried back to the field, where the dancing goes on and the deity can recover its fertile powers. The god is than carried through the village again and finally in the evening brought to the home of a newly-wed couple, where he will reside and work his wonders for another year.

We saw a young couple with a baby and the young father told about his parents, who also had the same stone statue in the house when he was born. Thus the village tradition is well alive these days.

Gabi Greve (seen at NHK, April 10, 2006)

. Lava Figures from Kagoshima .



Dancing in the fields
鹿児島県 祁答院町麓西




The newly wed with black faces



http://www.maff.go.jp/soshiki/koukai/muratai/21j/no1/mura21.html

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Read inJapanese about "Ta no Kansaa"
with many more photos.

Ta no Kansaa in Kagoshima




Ta no Kami of the Nishida Fields
西田の田の神さあ

姶良郡姶良町下名西田



http://www.d1.dion.ne.jp/~itaru_/tanokami4.htm

Yoshikatsu also has a great site about Stone Buddhas
よしかつ の石仏HP
http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/~yosikatu/

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The belief in the Ta no Kami might be related to the WOLF lore in Japan.

... there seems also to have existed a belief that if one encountered an okami (wolf) on a mountain and "treated him kindly", he would bestow kindness in return, and protect the man against other dangers. This may have to do with the belief, current in many parts of Japan, that the okami is a messenger of the gods, especially also of Yama-no-kami, the Mountain-deity, who during agricultural activities of the humans descends from her mountain residence to act as Ta-no-kami, the Field-deity.

(While commonly conceived as a female, Yama-no-kami may at times be a male; as usual with kami, the sex is variable.) Possibly as Yama-no-kami/Ta-no-kami's messenger, the wolf was thought of as a kind of protector of the rice against evil goblins.

[In Central Java a "wer tiger" guards the plantations at night against the destructive wild pigs; in the Yucatan the balams (magicians) took on an animal shape to guard the corn-fields!] No doubt originally similar ideas applied to both as Ta-no-kami's wolf and Inari-san's fox, depending on locality.

From:
Fox and badger and other witch animals of Japan
by U.A. Casal

Read more here
http://www.swampfox.demon.co.uk/utlah/Articles/japwolf.html



noogami 農神 / ノウガミ様 - obosuna sama オボスナ様 / おぼすな様 Ubusuna deity
deity for agriculture, especially the rice fields
. Sake 酒 rice wine for regional rituals .

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Yama no Kami 山の神, God of the Mountain,
God of the Forest


The farmhouse is a temple between the fields and the woods.
The fields stand for the work of cultivation, the woods are untamed nature.

The polar pattern of the cult of the field-and-forest god (ta no kami - yama no kami, where yama is the wooded slope above the village, so that the interpretation of "mountain god" would be wrong) provides the basic pattern and the framework for the whole calendar of festivals of the rice year (inasaku-girei).

Read the full story here:
JAPANESE RICE CULTURE, by Nold Egenter


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................ Haiku 俳句

Related Kigo for Late Spring

preparing a seat for the Field God,
..... ta no kami no koshikake 田の神の腰掛

Ceremony of Opening the Water Channels
..... mizuguchi matsuri 水口祭

Ceremony for the Seeds
..... tane matsuri 種祭
..... nawashiro matsuri 苗代祭


A Haiku Collection called Ta no Kami
from Mizuta Mitsuo
水田光雄 『田の神』句集

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


田の神へ一番刈りの稲供ふ   
ta no kami e ichiban kari no ine sonau

to the god of the field
we offer this first
bundel of rice


山本悦子  Yamamoto Etsuko
http://www.ibukinet.jp/topix/topix07.html

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

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田の神の眠りを醒ますとんどかな
ta no kami no nemuri o samasu tondo kana

awakening the
god of the fields -
fire offerings

河本秀也 Kawamoto Hideya
http://www.nhk.or.jp/haiku/html/haiku18-2-25.htm

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

TONDO: Read my explanation about Sankuroo and Daruma 
三九郎とだるま

dondoyaki, tondoyaki

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Related Kigo for early summer

CLICK for more photos


sanbai oroshi さんばい降し (さんばいおろし)
calling the god of the fields

sanbai matsuri さんばい祭(さんばいまつり)festival for the god of the fields
sanbai okuri さんばい送り(さんばいおくり)
sanbai machi さんばい待ち(さんばいまち) waiting for the god of the fields

sanbai is another name for the "god of the fields", mostly used in Western Japan.
His father is supposed to be the deity of fire (hi no kami), the mother is the deity of the spirit of the water. This god has only one leg.
The bamboo measure stick for planting rice is his symbol.
This festival is also a rice-planting festival, sometimes the men fight in the mud.


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sanbai 三拝 is also made as a statue representing the deity, made of bamboo, looking like a whisk (sasara ささら(簓) ). Placed in the middle of the rice paddy, it is offered ricewine, rice cakes and side dishes (sakana 肴). Sometimes it is placed at the entrance of the irrigation waterway. Special songs are offered and then all participants have a feast.
Some regions offer a dance to the deities (kagura) to pray for a good harvest.


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Related Kigo for mid-summer


. satsuki imi 五月忌 さつきいみ
Absention, abstinence in Satsuki
 
Satsuki is the name for the fifth month of the lunar calendar.
Now 6 Jun – 6 Jul. This is the season of rice planting and welcoming the god of the fields.



. taichuu no majinai 退虫の呪 (たいちゅうのまじない)
spell against insects

On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. This day was the one when the god of the mountain came back down to the fields for the rice-growing season and was celebrated in many regions.


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The God of the Mountain, 山神
often revered as a simple stone monument in rural Japan.

Related Kigo for early winter

yama no kami matsuri 山の神祭 (やまのかみまつり)
festival for the god of the mountain

yama no maki koo 山の神講(やまのかみこう)prayer group for the god of the mountain
..... yama no koo 山の講(やまのこう)
yama no ko matsuri 山の講祭(やまのこまつり)
festival of the prayer group for the god of the mountain
Held in the winter months at various shrines.

The prayer groups consisted of people who worked in the mountains. They had offerings twice a year, in early spring to open the season and in early winter to give thanks for the year.


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Related observance kigo for the New Year

kagihiki shinji 鉤引神事 (かぎひきしんじ)
ritual of pulling with hooks

..... 鉤引(かぎひき)pulling with hooks

Ritual to honor the deity of the mountain, in various mountain regions of Japan, especially in Nara, Mie and Kumamoto.
Sometimes the number of hooks corresponds to the number of male persons in a family.
Early in the morning of January 7 they offer ritual food and pray to the deity for wealth. Then a tug of war with the hooked branches starts.


source : chiiki/yamamiya23
From Takamatsu, Shikoku

quote
Tug of War KAGIHIKI in Kumamoto
Traditional spring festivals known as kagihiki (tug-of-war with wooden poles) are held around the Osumi Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture. Across the different regions of the peninsula there are many similarities in the methods of practicing kagihiki, but there are also many differences. The differences may tell us about the evolution of kagihiki.

The spring festival known as Uchiue-matsuri goes like this: a Shinto priest and his ujiko (shrine parishoners) ‘cultivate’ the grounds of the shrine, acting as if they were rice fields; they cultivate the ground using an ox plow (called a moga) and ‘sow’ rice seeds to pray for a good harvest. Kagihiki is part of this festival.

There are several types of kagihiki.
In one type, a pair of forked or trident branches or young trees are cut and shaped into two long kagi (poles with hooked ends), a male kagi and a female kagi; these are then hooked together and a large number of people compete in a tug-of-war. In another type, a pair of short kagi is used in a tug-of-war involving a small number of people.
Another variation involves the hooking together of kagi but there is no tug of war — instead they are dragged around the shrine grounds. In one further variation, there is no differentiation between the male kagi and the female kagi, but there is a tug-of-war involving a large number of people.

Many regions have discontinued the spring festival due to the shortage of participants and even stopped practicing kagihiki. However, today there are still eight regions where kagihiki is carried out. From survey reports of these continuing events, we will examine the differences between them in order to clarify the evolution of kagihiki.
by Teruo Setoguchi
source : www.jstage.jst.go


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Sai no kami no kanjin
幸の神の勧進 (さいのかみのかんじん)
Praying to the God of the Fields


On January 15.
This custom is mostly followed in the Tohoku region.
People come to the Dosojin at the village entrance and pray for protection from evil influence.


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................................. Read more here :


Japanese Rice Fields and Haiku


The God of Water and Haiku about Water


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Related kigo for early winter

. tookanya 十日夜 (とおかんや) night of the tenth  
(tenth day of the tenth lunar month)
Harvest thanksgiving for the god of the fields,
celebrated in Eastern and Northern Japan.
(nowadays around November 15)
It was a full-moon day of old.


and

inoko mochi 亥の子餅(いのこもち)
rice cakes for the wild boar festival
(also a kigo for late autumn)
They were prepared in the hour of the boar and eaten as a harvest thanksgiving. This a custom coming from China.
Festival of Marishi Ten and the Wild Boar.


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. Aso Shrine Festivals 阿蘇神社
hiburi matsuri 火振り祭 (ひぶりまつり)
"fire-swinging festival"
Aso Shrine, Kumamoto

The origin of this ritual goes back to welcoming the god of the fields back in spring, to greet his wife (goze mukae 御前迎え(ごぜむかえ) .


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. The Japanese Rice Culture -
die Reiskultur Japans. .



. WASHOKU
nogamisama, noo no kamisama 農神様 God of the Farmers

and ukiuki dango ウキウキ団子 as offerings


. Doosojin 道祖神 the Wayside Gods .

. Sake Legends and Buddhist Temples 酒とお寺 .

. Ta no Kami - Legends .

. Yama no Kami - Legends .


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- #tanokami #yamanokami -
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4/01/2006

Monju Bosatsu

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Monju Bosatsu 文殊菩薩 Manjushri - Mañjuśrī




A disciple of the Historical Buddha, Monju represents wisdom, intelligence and willpower. In artwork, Monju is often portrayed with a sutra in his left hand (a symbol of wisdom) and a sword in his right (to cut through illusion), but not always.
Sometimes Monju carries a lotus flower and is riding a Shishi (mythical lion).

Monju Bosatsu - Japanese Buddhist Deity of Wisdom and Education
Read all the Details from Mark Schumacher.

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. Monju Bosatsu Ceremony, Monju-E 文殊会  
kigo for mid-summer

Ama no Hashidate Festival, Ama no Hashidate Matsuri
天の橋立祭

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kigo for late spring

Koofukuji Monju e 興福寺文殊会 (こうふくじもんじゅえ)
ceremony for Monju Bosatsu at temple Kofuku-Ji
April 25

. Koofukuji 興福寺 Temple Kofuku-Ji Nara .


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Manjuvajra Mandala

Manjuvajra (Monju) carries a blue lotus, utpala, in his upper hand. The central hands are crossed in front of his chest, symbolizing the union with his female deva.

Manjushri is known to live in the Paradise of the Five-Peak Mountain (Wu-tai-shan, China)or in the Vimla (Yuima) paradise in the East. In this sculpture, he sits in a temple-like building, surrounded by five more temple towers around his head. This formation symbolizes the four heavenly directions with the center (pancha sikha, five peaks, five crests).
The figure of Monju is closely related to the number FIVE. We have statues with five hairknots, five signs or five companions.



Pala period (ca. 700–1200), 11th century
Bangladesh or India (West Bengal)
Black stone; H. 50 3/4 in. (128.9 cm)
Bequest of Cora Timken Burnett, 1956

Copyright © 2000–2006 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/ssn/hob_57.51.6.htm


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From Outcasts to Emperors:
Shingon Ritsu and the Mañjuśrī Cult in Medieval Japan


David Quinter, University of Alberta, Canada

In From Outcasts to Emperors, David Quinter illuminates the Shingon Ritsu movement founded by the charismatic monk Eison (1201–90) at Saidaiji in Nara, Japan. The book’s focus on Eison and his disciples’ involvement in the cult of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva reveals their innovative synthesis of Shingon esotericism, Buddhist discipline (Ritsu; Sk. vinaya), icon and temple construction, and social welfare activities as the cult embraced a spectrum of supporters, from outcasts to warrior and imperial rulers. In so doing, the book redresses typical portrayals of “Kamakura Buddhism” that cast Eison and other Nara Buddhist leaders merely as conservative reformers, rather than creative innovators, amid the dynamic religious and social changes of medieval Japan.



- source : www.brill.com/products/book -

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食逃や蚊蚤もちえの文珠堂
kui nige ya ka nomi mo chie no monjudoo

eat and run, the wisdom
of mosquitoes and fleas...
Wisdom Buddha's temple

Tr. David Lanoue

Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶
. Cultural keywords and kigo used by Issa .


There are various halls with this name in Japan.



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Utpala, the blossom of the blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea)
..... INDIA SAIJIKI .....: Lotus (padma)

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© Nara National Museum


Monju Bosatsu

Monju (Manjushri)
"Glückhafter Jüngling." Lautmalerische Abkürzung für "Monjushiri".

Stellt Wissen, Weisheit und Erleuchtung dar.
Nach dem Tode des Shakyamuni in Indien geborener Mensch, durch Askese zum Bosatsu geworden. Besonders in Tibet, Nordchina und der Mongolei (Mandschuria > Manjuria > Monju) verehrt.
Er schenkt Weisheit in allen Lebenslagen, nicht nur reine Intelligenz.
Beliebt auch in der Zen-Sekte, da er das aus der Erleuchtung kommende Wissen verkörpert. Häufig in der Zazen-Übungshalle für junge Zen-Mönche aufgestellt. Ein typisches japanisches Sprichwort lautet: Wenn drei Menschen zusammenkommen, sind sie so klug wie Monju (sannin yoreba, Monju no chie  三人寄れば文殊の知恵).

Die Geschichte über seinen religiösen Disput mit Vimalakirti (Yuima 維摩 ) wird im Sutra Yuimakyoo  維摩 (ゆいま) 経 beschrieben.
Rechts im Westen einer Shaka-Dreiergruppe, zusammen mit Fugen Bosatsu.

Ikonografie:
Mit Schwert in der rechten und Sutrarolle in der linken Hand als Symbole höchster Weisheit und Erkenntnis.
In Zen-Klöstern oft in Priestergestalt in Meditationshaltung, mit Sutrarolle, Sutraschatulle oder Lotusblüte.
Im esoterischen Buddhismus seit der Heian-Zeit auf einem Lotussockel auf einem Löwen reitend (Monju Kishizoo 文殊騎士像).

Auch mit Asketengewand, unter dem sich eine chinesische Rüstung befindet.

Im esoterischen Buddhismus gibt es vier verschiedene Darstellun~gen eines Monju:
Je nach der Zahl der Buchstaben seines Mantra - eins, fünf, sechs oder acht, hat die Figur entsprechend viele Haarknoten und trägt bestimmte Gegenstände in den Händen.
Monju mit einem Zeichen (Ichiji Monju 一字文殊): linke Hand - wunscherfüllendes Juwel, rechte Hand - Weidenzweig.

Monju mit fünf Zeichen (Goji Monju 五字文殊): linke Hand - grüne Lotusblüte, auf der eine Sutraschatulle liegt, rechte Hand - Diamant-Schwert (kongooken).
Auch als "Monju mit fünf Haarknoten" (Gokei Monju 五髻文殊 ) dargestellt.


Monju mit sechs Zeichen (Rokuji Monju): linke Hand - zur Brust erhoben, Handfläche nach oben, rechte Hand - Geste des Rades der Lehre.

. Rokuji 六字 the power of Six Words .


Monju mit acht Zeichen (Hachiji Monju): linke Hand - Donnerkeil auf einer Lotusblüte oder vor der Brust gehaltene Faust, Daumen und Zeigefinger berühren sich; rechte Hand: Schwert der Weisheit

Besondere Statuen:
Monju über das Meer kommend (Tokai Monju 渡海文殊)
Monju auf einem Löwen sitzend; der Löwe steht auf Wolken und durchquert das Meer auf dem Weg nach dem Berg Wutai in China. In Japan auch über das Meer von China nach Japan interpretiert. Siehe auch die Monju-Fünfergruppe.

Monju-Fünfergruppe (Monju Gozonzoo 文殊五尊像)
Besonders in der Tendai-Sekte verehrt.
Der Mönch Ennin brachte in der Heian-Zeit ein Abbildung aus dem Kloster am Berg Wutai (Godaisan Monju) aus China mit nach Japan. Nach diesem Vorbild, eigentlich einem "Monju über das Meer kommend", entstand die Monju-Fünfergruppe.
Nach Hama sitzt Monju auf einem Lotussockel auf einem Löwen, neben ihm stehen Udenoo (Utenoo), Basuu Sennin, Zenzai Dooji und Buddhahari Sanzoo.

Nach Sasa wird Monju von vier Gefährten begleitet:
Sudhana (mit gefalteten Händen) weist den Weg, Udenoo in chinesischem Gewand hält die Zügel und zwei Heilige, Buddhahari (im Priestergewand) und Taisei-Roojin (mit einem Kopftuch) laufen nebenher.


Kindlicher Monju (Chigo Monju 稚児文殊)

Junger Mann oder kindliche Gestalt mit Schwert und langstieliger Lotusblüte in der Hand, auf einem Lotussockel auf einem Löwen oder direkt auf dem Löwen sitzend.
(Löwe versinnbildlicht Tapferkeit und Energie zur Ergänzung der Weisheit des Monju. Der Löwe hat oft ein grünes Fell.)
Haare in fünf Knoten (gokei 五髻) aufgebunden, als Symbol der fünf Zeichen des Monju-Mantras.
In dieser Gestalt auch in der Dreiergruppe mit Shaka Nyorai und Fugen Bosatsu.

Heiliger Priester Monju (Seisoo Monju, Soogyoo Monju 聖僧文殊)
Monju erscheint in der Figur eines alten Priesters in Klöstern, um die Lehre und die rechten Vorschriften für die Mönche zu erläutern. Statuen eines alten Priesters, meist in den Refektorien der Zen-Tempelklöster aufgestellt.

Der japanische Priester Gyooki (Gyoki 行基) soll eine Inkarnation des Monju sein.


Quoted from my book
Buddhastatuen (Buddhastatues) Who is Who,
Ein Wegweiser zur Ikonografie von japanischen Buddhastatuen




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Monju Nuclear Power Plant
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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