曹洞宗 貞昌院 Teishoin Temple, Yokohama, Japan
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About Teishoin
横浜市港南区上永谷5-1-3
kameno@teishoin.net
Stone pillars and god images
Explanation
Stone pillars and god images
Koshin carved on the stone pillar
Year or day designation in the
sexagenary cycle (jikkan-jyunishi). Koshin designates any
year or day that falls on the combination of ko, the
seventh of the 'ten stems,' and shin (shin means monkey),
the ninth of the 'twelve branches ' or zodiacal symbols , a
combination representing the fifty-seventh year or day of a
complete cycle of sixty.
According to Taoist tradition, on the
night of a koshin day the 'three worms'(sanshi)
believed to dwell in the human body escape during sleep and
report a person's sins to the Celestial God, resulting in a
possible shortening of that person's life.
During the Heian period, the worms'
escape was practiced among Japanese court nobility, who fought
off sleep all night(koshin-machi) . This custom, known as
populace during the Muromachi period.
All-night koshin-machi are a
thing of the past, but the custom survives in this region in an
abbreviated form.
You can see three monkeys who clasp both
hands over their eyes, ears, or mouth, thus not seeing(mizaru),
not hearing(kikazaru), or not speaking(iwazaru).
Beginning in the late Muromachi period,
it becames customary to carve on koshin-to, stone pillars
used during the observances of koshin. The Three Monkeys
represent the Three Truths of Buddhism.
Dosojin : Guardian deity
Guardian deity of roads and village
boundaries, worshiped in the form of stone images along the
roadside. Also known as sae no kami, an ancient
designation that suggests the function of 'obstructing' or
'keeping out' sae(evil spirits). The dosojin is
often identified with the god Sarudahiko, who guided
Ninigino-mikoto, the supposed ancestor of the imperial line, on
his descent to earth. The object of workship takes various
physical forms.
Today, dosojin function also as
gods of marriage(You can see a couple of gods), birth, and other
rituals. They are widely feted throughout Japan during the
burning of the New Year's ornaments dondo-yaki on 14 and
15 January.
Children in some regions go door-to-door
to solicit rice cakes or other offerings 'for the dosojin',
and they eat it. In this region, dondo-yaki is on 14
January, at Tenmangu shrine next to Teishoin.
Jishin caved on the stone pillar
God who protects rice plants and brings
about abundant rice crops. Farming folk venerate the jishin
deity that is identicial with the ta-no-kami(god of the
paddies): the yama-no-kami(god of the mountain) descends
from the mountains in early spring to become the ta-no-kami
and after the harvest returns to his abode in the mountains.
Jizo-bosatsu('womb of the earth')
One of the most popular bodhisattvas in
Japanese Buddhism. Jizo is usually represented as a monk with a
jewel in one hand and a staff in the other.
Jizo's vow to aid and benefit all
suffering begins has made him an object of popular veneration
since the Heian period. Jizo is often syncretized with native
deities. He is particularly regarded as the savior of children
and souls in hell.
I refered to the 'Keys to the Japanese Heart and Soul' by Kodansha.
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