😇THE 1200 STONE DISCIPLES😇
At the foot of Mt Atago (愛宕山) is the small temple of Otagi Nenbutsu-ji (愛宕念仏寺).
Although it has a history stretching back over 1000 years, the temple might have faded away to nothing were it not for the creation of 1200 statues.
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Between 1922-25 the temple was moved from Higashiyama -where successive floods had done untold damage to its old buildings and treasures- to the foothills of Mt Atago.
In spite of this, typhoons in 1945 and 1950 tore through the temple and it came close to complete closure.
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In 1955 Nishimura Kōchō (西村公朝 1915-2003) became head priest and immediately set about reviving the temple.
With a background in art and restoring Buddhist statuary (& implements), he understood that one way in which to save Otagi Nenbutsu-ji might be through statues.
Prior to becoming abbot, Kōchō had been a professor at Tōkyō University of the Arts and later worked at the Nihon Bijutsuin Kokuhō Shūrijo, restoring priceless Buddhist statues.
He aided with the restoration of statues at Sanjūsangen-dō (三十三間堂).
Enrolled in the army in 1942, Kōchō fought in various places in China during WWII.
Demobilized in 1945, he returned to a quiet life restoring the statues of Sanjūsangen-dō.
In 1951 he took the tonsure as a Tendai monk and rose to become Director of the Kokuhō Shūrijo.
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