Showing posts with label iwano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iwano. Show all posts

Monday, December 2, 2013

Iwano Yakushi-do



My final stop on my way to the station at the end of my second day of walking the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was this small temple next to the station.


A statue of Yakushi Nyorai is enshrined in the small building at the top of a flight of stairs. This statue was at the bottom of the stairs and is not the Yakushi, which was hidden and could not be seen. According to the signboard it is one of 7 Yakushi Nyorai statues that date from the time of Emperor Shomu who ruled in the middle of the eighth Century.


The statue was originally in a cave but sometime in the ninth Century a young woman who had just lost her parents was sleeping in the cave and had a dream that told her she shoukld marry a certain gentleman who lived over in Kitayama. She did, and with her new husband built the hall and moved the statue to it.


Judging by the number of prayer slips left here it continues to be a popular site.

And so that was the end of my second day....... looking forward to the next leg....