Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Shofuku-ji Temple

 

     Tradition puts it that the statue of Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces, was carved by Gyoki (668-749).  It used to be enshrined in Shofuku-ji Temple by the top of Mt. Osugi.  The temple precincts including the top of the mountain used to be holy ground for Shugendo;a sect of Esoteric Buddhism.  On its golden days, there should have been many Yamabushi, Japanese mountain ascetic hermits, performing sadhana.

     Shugendo was forbidden in 1872 by the Meiji Restoration Government, who regarded the sect unacceptable because of its amalgamation of Shinto and Buddhism.  Without families who had graves in the precincts, that is without periodical income, the temple declined.

     The Ekadasamukha statue was first moved to Joko-in Temple in Heguri-naka in 1914, and then to Kosho-ji Temple in 1918.

     If you climb up to Mt. Osugi, you can still find the leftovers: stone steps, a stone washbasin, stone monuments, and even a substitute stone statue of Ekadasamukha.  They are accompanied with wallows of wild boars.

The summer grass,

'Tis all thats left,

Of Ancient warriors' dream.

(composed by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), and translated by Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933))

Kosho-ji Temple

Address: 1162-1 Yamada, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2203

Phone: 0470-58-0242