Virtual Ika 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Komyo-ji Temple

     In 724, Gyoki  (668-749) visited the village, carved a statue, and founded Komyo-ji Temple to place the statue.  Well may you ask what statue it was.  It had 11 heads.  Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces?  Well, it has 46 arms too.  It might be Sahasrabhuja, who is supposed to have 1,000 arms, but who has actually less arms because of physical constraint, however divine it may be.  Saicho (767-822) later visited the mysterious statue, and organized the temple as one of branch temples of Enryaku-ji Temple.

     Further later, a thief also visited the temple to steal the statue.  He held it in his arms, and carried it to the border of the village.  Unbelievably,  the statue suddenly became heavier.  The thief had no choice but to leave it there and flee.  On the very night, a young handsome priest appeared in a villager’s dream.  Or in villagers’ dreams.  Excuse me, but the Japanese language doesn’t have plural forms, so I can’t tell which was the case.  And the priest told the villager(s) that the statue was going to be stolen.  The villager(s) followed his words and looked out of the house(s), to find a light piercing from the east.  The villager(s) hurried to the place and found the statue safe.