💔🙏AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER👑🗡️
Banbukyō-ji (萬無教寺 aka Manmukyō-ji) sits on the Philosopher's Path beneath Zenki-san (善気山).
Thanks to its links to Hōnen, it is better known as Hōnen-in (法然院), and because of the many camellia that grow here it's nicknamed Tsubaki-no-dera (椿の寺).
The 'Rokuji Raisan' (六時礼讃) was a service of hymn-like songs performed six times in a day by Hōnen at...
😮🎶 daytime (日中 - sometime after midday)
😮🎶 sunset (日没)
😮🎶 first watch of night (初夜)
😮🎶 midnight (半夜)
😮🎶 4am (後夜)
😮🎶 dawn (晨朝 - 6am)
One of the temple's most stunning features is a rather new addition...a sliding door painted with very lifelike shield bugs (カメムシの絵).
Titled 'Yokyō' (余興 'entertainment' or 'performance'), it was created by Mizuno Hiroyo (水野浩世).
The shield bug (カメムシ 'kamemushi') sliding door was inspired by an old belief that an outbreak of shield bugs heralds a long, hard winter ahead (カメムシが大発生するとその冬は寒く大雪になる).
As visitors enter Hōnen-in they pass through the Byakusadan (白砂壇), 2 terraces of white sand (roughly 7m long, 3m wide and 10cm high).
Said to symbolize water, the sand purifies the body and soul. Every 4 or 5 days a priest rakes new patterns, reflecting the weather or season.
'Sange' (散華) is a ritual offering of flowers. Early each morning at Hōnen-in 25 flowers (commonly camellia) are dedicated to a statue of Amida carved by Genshin (源信 942-1017).
The flowers represent the 25 bodhisattva who help Amida take the souls of the dead to paradise.
The Hōnen-in we know today was founded in 1681, long after Hōnen's death.
Following Hōnen's exile and the persecution of "The Pure Land School" the original hut was abandoned, but local villagers kept the statue of Amida safe until a new temple was built hundreds of years later.
Camellia Tea Ceremony