Takisanji Temple has many national important cultural properties including the Kamakura-styled Main Hall, Sanmon Gate, and the sacred statue of the Goddess of Mercy which not only has the remains of Yorimoto, but is also said to be built in his life-size. Have a close look at Sanmon Gate. The gate is some distance from the Main Hall these days, which gives us a good idea of the size of the temple during its heyday. The gate was built in by Mitsunobu Fujiwara, a master carpenter and builder of high social rank from the mountain province of Hida now the Takayama area of Gifu prefecture.
It was built to perfection both in terms of the depth of its entire structure and in the mightness of its large shingled roof. The gate is made from wood and plaster, the bright coloring coming from the vermillion coating. If you look up under the eaves of the roof you can see in each corner a small figurine resembling a gargoyle.
Guarding the entrance to the gate are two wooden statues called Niouzou. The one of the right of the gate pictured is agyou a — the beginning of all things — similar to alpha , and the one on the left is ungyou un — the ending of all things — similar to omega. The character read as gyou, means figure or shape. Each of the statues are centimeters high approximately inches are were carved during the first half of the 15th century.
As Kujaku a Tantric Buddhist monk and his friends soon find out, the statue actually holds the spirit of an ancient demon who wants to destroy the universe, blot out the sun, blah blah blah. Asura was stolen by Tatsuma, a powerful necromancer who feels he was born in the wrong time, a time when all his powers mean very little.
Thus, he plans to release the demon to take the world back to a state where he would be appreciated for his black arts. Against his better judgment, Kujaku must team up with Onimaru, a renegade warrior who'll use his knowledge of the Forbidden Curses to help whichever side pays him enough. Together, the two of them must stop Tatsuma before, literally, all hell breaks loose.
This whole hokey-jokey mess from is really unimpressive. The artwork is alright in certain action sequences, but the facial features and such are completely off during less tense moments. It just looks awful. Music, production, etc. Now each segment of this show was created by a different studio and director, so it's always possible the others were better, but I can't see it from this.
How many times are we going to see evil people bring back spirits for the whole purpose of destroying the earth? The red ogre represents "all of the bad aspects of the human mind", the blue ogre represents "the poor and greedy human mind", the yellow ogre represents "the complaining and over-dependent human mind", the green ogre represents "the arrogant human mind", while the black ogre represents "the doubtful human mind.
Amidst the silent and solemn atmosphere of the temple's main hall, these ogres dance, scream and rampage as if they were real ogres. It is said that if your child is carried away momentarily by one of the ogres then that child will grow strong and healthy.
Families flood to this festival every year in hopes of having their child captured. The wooden wands hung with paper streamers called gohei, symbolize their status as Shinto gods. The purpose of the namahage is to scare the living daylights out of the young children in hope that they will behave in the New Year, or face the consequences.
Parents can inform the namahage in advance with details about their children and how they want them to behave better. These can include such things as to study harder, help around the house or to always remember to wash behind their ears. Japan blogger, photographer and traveler.
More articles by John Asano. I hope it is successful in order to help preserve and revitalize this ancient Japanese folk custom.
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