Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Komatsu-ji Temple

 

       Mt. Komatsu used to be a holy place for the local mountain worship.  En no Ozuno (634-707) built a hermitage there at the turn of the 8th century.  In 718, a 3.24-square-meter hall was built, and was named Komatsu-ji Temple.  In 831, Ennin  (794-864) rebuilt the hall, added a pagoda, and enshrined the guardian god of the Tiantai School of Buddhism.

In the 8th century, a fire left the temple in ruins for decades.  In 920, Komatsu Masakazu reconstructed the temple.  

     Komatsu-ji Temple has the Seven Wonders: the Rain under the Clear Skies, the Bell under the Ground, the Sutra Recitation on a Dark Night, a Tengu to Fly About, Halved Star Anise Leaves, the Rainbow-Colored Deep Pool, and the Waterfall of Otoo.

     On February 15, 921, the celebration the rebuilding Koamtsu-ji Temple was held, and Masakazu's son, Chiyowaka-maru performed child dances as a part of the celebration.  All fo a sudden, the buildings shook and a tengu emerged.  It grabbed the young boy and flew north.  One of Masakazu’s vassals, Igarashi Saemon, recognized it as a tengu from Mt. Iyo, and rushed to the mountain on his horse, only to find the body of the boy.  Otoo, presumably Chiyowaka-maru’s foster brother, threw himself into the waterfall near Komatsu-ji Temple.

From that day on, every year on February 15, it rained however fine skies there were.

     After the incident, the priest of the temple Invited Izuna Gongen, the manifestation of buddha which is often depicted as the form of crow tengu holding a sword and a rope and riding on a white fox.  After the invitation, tengu in the mountain stopped evil deeds.  However, it is said that we can recognize the shadows and sounds of flying tengu in the woods even today.

Now, we have covered 3 out of 7 wonders, though I don’t know why the Waterfall of Otoo can be a wonder.

     The fourth wonder is about the first Buddhist bell of the temple.  One day, a landslide hit the temple and washed the bell away.  One of the two Deva Kings at the temple gate stretched his arm and grabbed the bell.  But the landslide was more powerful than his muscles and carried the bel down together with his arm.  The bell and the arm was buried under the earth and sand of the lower reaches of Seto River.  Since then, whenever it rained hard and the river overflowed, the bell rang from the depth of the river, “I miss Komatsu.  Ding-dong.  Ding-dong.”  You ask me what the arm said?  I have no idea.

     The fifth wonder is that you can hear the sounds of reading sutra aloud under the floor of the main hall in the middle of the nigh.

     When En Ozuno (634-701) was training himself in the main hall, he had a routine of halving a leaf of a Japanese star anise and putting it in front of Buddha.  Since then, the anise tree in the precincts came to have halved leaves only.  The tree burned down in a fire, and another tree with spotted leaves was planted instead.  That is the sixth wonder.

     The seventh and last wonder is that the river in front of the temple shows seven colors.

     In may, 1790, the grave of Otoo was built by Ando Ikuemon.  In April, 1997, it was actually found on the top of Mt. Komatsuji.

     The Buddhist bell in the temple was donated in 1374 to mourn the death of Chiyowakamaru.

     Yet, it is unknown whether Chiyowakamaru and Otoo actually existed or were legendary.

Address: 1057 Chikuracho Onuki, Minamiboso, Chiba 295-0013

Phone: 0470-44-2502