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Asahi Shimbun
3 days ago
- General
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Dazzled by the enigmatic smile of an ancient sculpture
'Nyoirin Kannon,' or statue of Seated Bodhisattva with One Leg Pendent, from Chuguji temple on display at Nara National Museum in Nara on May 20 (Asahi Shimbun file photo) Wanting to see a particular enigmatic smile in person, I traveled to the ancient Japanese capital of Nara. My destination was the Nara National Museum, where the celebrated Asuka Period (592-710) 'Nyoirin Kannon,' or statue of Seated Bodhisattva with One Leg Pendent, was on display in a special feature exhibition titled 'Oh! Kokuho: Resplendent Treasures of Devotion and Heritage.' The statue went on display on May 20 when some of the exhibits were replaced. To see the famed smile, one had to first complete a tour of the exhibition and see all the national treasures the museum had to offer. Only then, could a visitor be led into a dazzling white room that made one feel as if they were stepping into an alternate universe. There, in the center, materialized the 'kannon bosatsu'--or the goddess of mercy in Japanese Buddhism. The plump middle finger of her right hand touched her chin. Her left foot was on a lotus flower. With her eyes lowered serenely, she seemed to be contemplating the salvation of humanity. I had been told before that her face changed noticeably depending on the angle of view. That proved to be true. Up close, she looked infinitely gentle. Scrutinized from afar, she gave the impression of being determined or intense. This sculpture is made of wood, but its ebony sheen could have misled anyone into thinking it was metal. Everything about this treasure simply mesmerized me. In fact, many people have been captivated by this Japanese version of 'The Thinker.' Philosopher Tetsuro Watsuji (1889-1960) extolled it as 'the crystallization, in the shape of a human body, of our deepest and commonest yearning for mercy.' Photographer Ken Domon (1909-1990) put it much more simply: 'This is Japan's Madonna.' Domon deemed this bosatsu as a woman, probably because it was the main object of worship at Chuguji temple, a nunnery in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture. Originally, the statue was said to have been painted in bright colors and had a pectoral ornament. I learned this only after I left the museum, but that certainly did not detract from my appreciation for this treasure in any way. A tanka poem by Yaichi Aizu (1881-1956) goes: 'Looking up a Buddha statue/ lost in a reverie/ then I heard the footsteps/ on the museum floor' I was so immersed in the experience that I must have forgotten the time. When I 'came to,' so to speak, there were far more visitors around me than when I started. I left the small white room with reluctance. --The Asahi Shimbun, May 31 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Tokyo Weekender
5 days ago
- Tokyo Weekender
Koyasan Pilgrimage: Exploring Japan's Holiest Buddhist Sanctuary
This article appeared in Tokyo Weekender Vol. 2, 2025. To read the entire issue, click here . Almost 1,200 years ago, one of the most famous Japanese monks, Kukai, entered his eternal meditation on the eastern peak of Mount Koya. The monk, known posthumously as Kobo Daishi, slipped into death mid-prayer. Shingon belief states that though his physical body perished, his spirit still remains on Mount Koya, awaiting Miroku Nyorai, Buddha of the Future, and watching over one of Japan's holiest mountains. To this day, two shojin ryori (traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine) meals are brought to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum every day to sustain the monk's spirit. In the late summer of 2023, along with my mother and grandmother, I visited Mount Koya — or Koyasan in Japanese, which is how I prefer to refer to it. My grandmother had walked the Shikoku pilgrimage, a route connecting 88 temples said to have been visited by Kobo Daishi in the ninth century. Although not officially part of the circuit, Koyasan is considered its spiritual beginning and end, as it's the revered monk's final resting place. She wanted to complete the journey while her legs were still strong enough to make the trek. Holy Pilgrimage Koyasan refers to a mountain basin and its surrounding peaks, as well as the temple complex that spans the area. Found in Kansai's Wakayama Prefecture, it's a tremendously important site in Japanese Buddhism. The birthplace and spiritual center of Shingon Buddhism, the mountainous area was home to over 2,000 temples in the Edo period, 117 of which remain. These 117 temples are still open to visitors today. It's possible to take a cable car or bus to the top, but the spiritually or athletically inclined can ascend to the peak using ancient pilgrimage trails. Among these is Choishi Michi, the original main trail, a 23.5-kilometer hike that winds through the forest. 'After climbing a steep mountain path, a religious city suddenly appears, lined with temples and monastic lodgings. The air is clear, and a solemn atmosphere filled with tradition surrounds you,' Nobuhiro Tamura, the former chief administrator of a temple on Koyasan and current head operator of a Koyasan tour company, explains. 'It is a place where you can get a glimpse into the original landscape of Japan, where many people with deep faith in Kobo Daishi still live.' It might have simply been the temperature drop and the misty weather, but Koyasan's ambience left me feeling chilled and mystified on my journey there. Visitors enter the complex through Daimon, a 25-meter-tall gate flanked by guardian statues, marking the symbolic threshold between the secular world and the sacred mountain temple town. As we passed through, our guide pointed out the route that would lead to Fudozaka-guchi Nyonin-do, the only surviving women's hall of the seven that once stood on the perimeter of the temple complex. Women weren't allowed to enter the holy grounds until 1872, and even then, they faced strict restrictions and resistance. It wasn't until the early 20th century that they received full and equal access. Instead, female pilgrims would hike the perimeter of Koyasan and go to surrounding sanctuaries with direct ties to Kobo Daishi in order to experience a fraction of the area's holy energy. The difficult and even dangerous route became known as Nyonin Michi, now a symbol of devout, resilient female worship. I looked to my grandmother and mother, the three of us comprising three generations of women, casually visiting a mountain we would have once been barred from. I suddenly felt a rush of pride and appreciation. I stood a little taller and tilted my head up, beckoning the energy around me. Kobo Daishi's Resting Place Some of Koyasan's main highlights include the Danjo Garan, the central temple complex; the Tokugawa mausoleum enshrining Ieyasu and his son Hidetada; and, of course, Okunoin, the site of the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi and the largest cemetery in Japan. The cemetery is home to over 200,000 tombstones, including a rocket-shaped tombstone modeled after Apollo 11 and a Yakult-shaped tombstone. To enter the site of Kobo Daishi's mausoleum, visitors must cross Gobyobashi Bridge, beyond which food and photography are not allowed and talking must be kept to a minimum. The tour guide asked us to bow to Kobo Daishi and meditatively cross the bridge, one wooden plank at a time. My gaze zeroed in on the planks as if one misstep would reveal me to be careless or disrespectful. On the other side of the bridge awaits Torodo Hall, a sanctuary illuminated by 20,000 lanterns. Guests aren't permitted to enter the mausoleum itself, but may instead pay respect from outside of the monk's eternal meditative place. As soon as I crossed the bridge, a whole-body shudder coursed through me. I held my breath instinctively and felt an all-encompassing presence around me, understanding me, protecting me. I looked over to my mother, and she returned a quick, wide-eyed nod. 'Iru ne,' she said. He's here . Temple Lodgings at Koysasan For those looking to deepen their spiritual experience even further, Koyasan also presents guests with the opportunity to stay at a temple lodging, called shukubo. 'There are around 50 shukubo, and many of them can be booked easily online,' Tamura notes. For visitors coming between March and November, he advises booking far in advance. 'On the other hand, if you prefer a quieter experience, winter is a peaceful season with crisp, clear air — just make sure to come prepared for the cold.' Staying at a temple makes for a wholly new level of immersion in the culture of Koyasan. Shukubo experiences offer spiritual understanding through lived experience and actual religious practice, allowing guests to eat, pray and sleep like a monk on temple grounds. A shukubo experience provides the chance to slow down and find profound meaning in quiet, everyday moments: walking through the temple's impeccably polished wooden corridors, trying thoughtfully prepared shojin ryori meals, engaging in rituals such as gongyo (daily sutra chanting) and goma (a fire ritual prayer) and admiring carefully maintained gardens. Staying at a shukubo also allows guests to explore Koyasan at night; the red temple buildings of Danjo Garan have a completely different ambience when illuminated in the evening. There's something to be said for experiencing the entire 24-hour cycle in Koyasan, watching the sun dip in the evening and welcoming the sunrise the next day, practicing gratitude and reflection for the things we take for granted, guided by the spirit of Kobo Daishi. More Info Book your own trip to Koyasan here . Related Posts Nachi Falls: Where Nature Meets Spirituality in Wakayama Staying Overnight in a Japanese Temple: A Day at Tokei-in Temple The World of Japanese Buddhism: The Major Schools and Sects
Tokyo Weekender
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tokyo Weekender
Horses in Japanese Mythology
The Japanese word for fool or idiot is baka, but few people know that it can be written with characters for horse and deer. It's probably just a case of ateji, though, which is the process of assigning characters to loanwords based on their sounds, not their meanings. When you look at Japanese culture, you don't really find stories of horses being foolish or anything like that. Instead, they're almost always portrayed as divine creatures or the stuff of nightmares, with nothing in between. Let's take a closer look at horses in Japanese mythology. List of Contents: Chojiro Goes From Salty to Horsey If Someone Asks You To Go Up Against a Japanese Horse, Just Say 'Neigh' Mounts (and Heads) of the Gods Related Posts Image of Shio no Choji from the 'Ehon Hyakumonogatari' picture book (1841) Chojiro Goes From Salty to Horsey Up in Hokuriku, northwestern Japan, a story is told of Shio no Chojiro (Salty Chojiro), a man who liked to eat like a horse and, aptly, enjoyed horse meat. This was back during the Edo period when eating animal flesh was still considered taboo. Luckily for Chojiro, though, he was rich, so the rules didn't apply to him. Whenever one of his hundreds of horses died, Chojiro would have it butchered and pickled in salt, hence his nickname. However, with time, his luck ran out. He lost his money, and was down to just one old workhorse, which eventually worked its way into Chojiro's stomach. After that, Chojiro started having nightmares about the horse biting his throat out. Then, in the waking world, the ghost of Chojiro's lunch would continue the psychic assault by appearing to him daily at the precise hour it was butchered. The ghost horse would then force itself down Chojiro's gullet into his stomach where it would violently kick him. Doctors examined Chojiro but couldn't find anything physically wrong with him. They probably stopped themselves from declaring him 'fit as a horse,' though, out of consideration for his suffering. He eventually died from all the horsing around and, the legend goes that when they found his body, it was bent like that of an old workhorse. If Someone Asks You To Go Up Against a Japanese Horse, Just Say 'Neigh' Some of the scariest creatures in Japanese mythology, including kappa river imps, enko, yamawaro and hyosube, knew not to mess with horses. Nobody really knows why, but here's one suggestion: even ignoring the legend of Salty Chojiro, myths about horses are often pure horror. The story of Mezu is one such example. A nightmarish demon in Japanese Buddhism, he took the form of a massive man with a horse's head and was one of the gatekeepers of hell. He was also the one that the King of Hell sent to retrieve escaped souls. Frankly, it's criminal that there isn't a manga, anime or even a light novel based on this premise. Western Kyushu also tells a tale of the sanity-shattering sagari spirit which took the form of a malformed horse's head. It was said to drop down from hackberry trees to scream at unsuspecting passersby. 10 Famous Yokai: Spirits of Japanese Folklore Sun Goddess Amatersau emerges from the cave. By Shunsai Toshimasa (1887) Mounts (and Heads) of the Gods Historically, horses have also been connected with divinity, dating back as early as the 8th century, which is when the Kojiki — Japan's oldest literary work — was composed. Book One mentions that when Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun, oversaw the weaving of sacred robes, her brother Susanoo, 'punched a hole in the roof of the weaving hall and dropped through it a piebald colt of heaven that had been skinned backward from its tail.' This desecration of a heavenly horse caused Amaterasu to retreat to a cave, plunging the world into darkness. It says a lot about the importance of horses, which have since become objects of worship in Shinto for well over a millennium. The practice of shinme offerings began during the Nara period and involved real horses being gifted to shrines so they could become mounts for the shrine deity. Some shrines still keep actual horses, while most have replaced them with symbolic wooden plaques that used to, and sometimes still do, have pictures (called e in Japanese) of horses ( uma ) on them. And that's why the wooden plaques in shrines and temples that people write wishes on are called ema. Bato Kannon (Horse-Headed Kannon) combines the horse's divine and frightful nature into one handy deity. Bato is the fierce form of the goddess of mercy and compassion, reminding people that forgiveness does not equal weakness. Usually depicted with three angry human faces and a horse's head on top, Bato Kannon aids souls in the Buddhist animal realm and protects horses in the human world using swords, axes and clubs that it holds in its two to eight arms. Many people pray to the goddess for strength, which she has a surplus of. Besides her multi-heads, she's also said to be red all over, and although the myths don't elaborate on it, we can make an educated guess that the red is probably blood. And if it is, it's 100% not her blood. The lesson here is: start carrying sugar cubes in your pocket to feed to any random horse you may come by to gain their favor. Just in case Related Posts Dogs: The Not-So-Good Boys of Japanese Mythology Japanese Mythology: The Shinto Creation Myth Beyond One Piece: True Stories of Japanese Pirate Kings
