Otagi Nenbutsu is a small temple located in Arashiyama, outside of Kyoto. Its location is the patron of many other religious buildings in Japan: small pavilions scattered, embedded in the topography and in dialogue with the natural landscape (or sometimes skillfully "naturalized").
Its architecture, simple and austere, imposing different from other large and famous structures in Kyoto, many of which we reviewed earlier in this moleskine. But what makes this place special is the statuary that adorns it. More than a thousand small statues of Buddha are arranged in various parts of the complex and unusual expressions both that characterize the effect of the old moss that covers them in various shades and shapes, making them irresistibly photogenic.
BRIEF HISTORY The origins of the temple
Otagi Nenbutsu back to the Heian period (794-1185), in the infancy of Kyoto, when the Empress Shotoku was founded in the former capital on the banks Kamo river. To be destroyed by a flood was rebuilt as an annex Enryaku ji Temple, near Mount Hiei, north of Kyoto. It was destroyed again in the thirteenth century during a civil war. Was finally moved to its present location in 1922.
CURRENT LOCATION
Arashiyama is one of the most popular areas for visitors to Kyoto, particularly in autumn when the maple leaves tan dress and populate the mountainside. This show has been admired for centuries, and realize so many temples and gardens, as beautiful Tenryuji , for example. However, the temple of Otagi Nenbutsu is somewhat isolated, a few miles from the tourist hordes that invade Arashiyama.
The 5 wards that constitute the feature set is oriented parallel to the east and built into the topography, integrating the landscape and reducing their impact on nature, so it goes unnoticed from the outside.
Basically the buildings can be grouped into three areas:
income
The entrance gate, which corresponds to the Kamakura period (1192-1333), is flanked by two statues Nio , a fearsome figures, which are typically found in the temple doors Nipponese. However, after entering, we found a new Nio statues but much more tender, and marking the start of the climb to the temple.
central zone.
In a kind of space is the main hall, two smaller halls ( Fureai Kannon and Jizo Bosatsu Hiyoze ) and a structure called Sambo Kane no home to call bells of the three treasures: Buddha , Dharma and the monks.
The upper
After climbing a series of steps, a small open pavilion protects the main statue of Buddha.
THE Rakke
Despite of ancient appearance, the more than 1200 statues that adorn the temple were made recently, between 1981 and 1991. From there his character sometimes humorous and kawaii (Japanese adjective to denote something childishly tender).
These representations of the 500 disciples of Buddha who reached Nirvana are called Rakan (also known as arhat) and were made by amateur sculptors led by Nishimura Kocho . The most striking of these are expressions, humorous, original, eclectic or exotic, which differ radically from the representations Buddhas in Japan and Southeast Asia (the reader can compare, for example, with hundreds of Buddhas represented in an orthodox temple Sanjusangen-do).
Buddhas toothless, carrying cats or strange hats, saxophonists, photographers, with glasses or just sharing a good sake, are some of the representations that are unusual here. Moreover, there is the habit of seeking the Buddha which is most similar to one.
The Rakka are typically arranged in one or more rows, although There can also be scattered individually in the grass or the trees.
Similar but not identical. The ojizo-san are protective deities found in many parts of Japan (and of course also in this temple), and play a protective role for all living things. His sculpture is much coarser and is cast in the rock, and are often dressed in a red garment.
SEE ALSO
- ARCHITECTURE JAPANESE BUDDHIST
- Shinto
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