Ogre Tile of the Pagoda, North Bell Tower & Stone Coffin Cover.It is said praying to this dragon can remove calamities and the evil. I saw the dragon! Can you see it in the picture? The dragon painted in the ceiling is reflecting on the water below.
#Dragon spring temple free
The legend says this well leads to Munetsuchi, a legendary pond in India that is free of the fires that agonize people, and the protector of the pond-a dragon-lives here. 4 of the Seven Wonders is the Dragon’s Well. The tiger at the Tiger Gate nearby is also protecting the Taishi-den where Prince Shotoku himself is enshrined. Now that’s a long-distance friendship! Apparently, she also has the role of protecting Buddhist sutra stored in Shoryo-in’s sutra library from mice. It is said that this sleeping cat meows with another sleeping cat-also sculpted by Hidari Jingorou but located at Nikkō Tōshō-gū Shrine in eastern Japan, couple hours North of Tokyo-on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The wood carving of the sleeping cat on the Cat Gate is the work of a famous sculptor, Hidari Jingorou. The current Cat Gate at Shitennoji Temple was reconstructed by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1623 after the temple was destroyed during the winter campaign of the Siege of Osaka in 1614. It is said “the sleeping cat at the Cat Gate cries three times on the morning of the New Year’s Day.” So cool.įurther into the temple grounds is the Cate Gate, the No. It was beautiful.Īnd here’s the marvelous Deva Gate (Niomon) with two muscular guardian gods. Try it for yourself when you visit Shitennoji and maybe you’ll be more successful than me!Īs I proceeded into the temple grounds, the Great West Gate also known as Gokuraku-mon stood in front of me with the blue sky in the backdrop. But I don’t think I heard the voices… (lol) Though, I did hear some sound-a sound that brings back memories, kind of like the sound of the sea in a seashell. The stone pillar underneath the stone torii gate is the second of the Seven Wonders, called “pon pon ishi” (literally “tap tap stone.”) When you tap inside of the square hole in the pillar, you hear a little “plop, plop.” It is said that, if you put your ear against the pillar, you can hear the voices of your ancestors in heaven. The sun sets in the middle of this torii on the days of equinox (when night and day are equal length) both in spring (mid-March) and autumn (mid-September.) At the ritual of jissokan, worshippers stand facing West and quietly watch the sun go down in the center of the torii, praying for reincarnation in the gokuraku-jōdo (Buddhist paradise where no pain and only bliss exist) which is located in the far West. Wow! That means I was standing at the entrance of the paradise (lol). If this torii is the East Gate to the Gokuraku-jōdo, that means the western side of the torii, behind where I stood is the Buddhist paradise. This, everyone, is the first of the Seven Wonders. The words in the frame hung in the center of the torii gate reads “This is the East Gate to the Gokuraku-jōdo (Buddhist paradise,) where Gautama Buddha preaches.” Who knows what the truth is, but what we know for fact is that this stone torii is one of Japan’s Three Great Torii and is the oldest of all torii that exist today. Today, theories around this torii include claims that there is a shrine hidden inside of the temple and that it was actually not a Buddhist temple but ancient Sun Worship. Interestingly, this situation did not even pose a question before the Meiji Period (1868 – 1912 CE) because Shinto gods and Buddha were thought to be very close. Various theories exist around this stone torii at Shitennoji Temple. Why is there a torii at a temple? You’re right, torii gates are usually found at Shinto shrines and Shitennoji is a Buddhist temple. In about 5-minute walk from the station, you arrive at Nishimon Ishinotorii, the stone torii gate on the western side of the temple. Shitennoji Temple is located near Osaka Metro Tanimachi Line’s Shitennoji-mae Yuhigaoka Station. East Gate to the Gokuraku-jōdo & Pon Pon Stone.
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