{Inter} Cultural Japan

Zenkoji in Nagano is one of the most popular temples in Japan. Millions and millions of pilgrims visit it every year. They are attracted by the power of the temple’s icon, a Buddha triad, said to be the Living Buddha. This image is never shown, and the closest worshipers can come to it is by walking through a pitch-dark passageway under the altar.

[Zenkoji Temple]

The Zenkoji myth begins in ancient India. A beautiful princess, called Nyoze-hime, the daughter of a wealthy man, Gakkai, falls ill and dies (Gakkai undoubtedly was not living a righteous life and therefore punished with the death of his daughter). The Amida Buddha intervenes and brings the young woman back to life; to commemorate the event, an icon (a small statue) is made of the Amida Triad (the Amida Buddha flanked by the Boddhisattvas Seishi and Kannon).

Then the story shifts to 6th century Korea. The rich Indian man has been reincarnated as the Korean King Song; again, he is not living a virtuous life; therefore, the Amida Triad flies magically from India to his palace to remonstrate with him; the king is converted and helps propagate Buddhism.

In episode three, the image is sent by this Korean king to the emperor of Japan, to convert him to Buddhism (here the myth copies history: King Song of the Korean kingdom Paekche in 538 did indeed send a Buddhist image and sutras to his Japanese counterpart); the Japanese emperor entrusts the image to one of his courtiers; in a dispute with another clan opposed to Buddhism, the image ends up being dumped into a canal.

Then the myth comes into force again: a man called Honda Yoshimitsu (now the third reincarnation of the wealthy Indian man) finds the golden image and takes it to his native province, Nagano, where he builds a temple for it. ‘Zenko,’ the name of this temple, is another way to read the characters of the name ‘Yoshimitsu.’

The legend reaches a climax when Yoshisuke, the son of Yoshimitsu and his wife Yayoi dies; travels to hell; and is rescued and brought back to life by the Living Buddha. Thus, is the message, the Zenkoji Amida Triad will save all who are devoted to it from hell and ensure them of rebirth in paradise. Even materialistic rewards are part of the parcel: the Empress later rewards father and son with governorships. The Living Buddha also helps to make earthly life more pleasant.

[Yoshimitsu carrying the Amida trinity on his back]

A popular cult
Thus, the pilgrims who visit Zenkoji every year in an endless stream believe that one pilgrimage in a lifetime will ensure them of rebirth in the Paradise of the Amida Buddha and will also bring them material rewards in the present existence. Historically, the first temple in Nagano is documented in the 9th century; the Zenkoji cult becomes popular on a large scale in the 12th century and flourishes thanks to the support of the Kamakura shogunate.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the temple’s physical fortunes are precarious, but the cult remains firmly popular both with warriors and commoners. Feudal lords vying for dominance in the Nagano area destroy the temple and the icon is even stolen. The new possessor, Takeda Shingen, builds New Zenkoji (Shin Zenkoji) for it in his capital, Kofu. After many vicissitudes, the image is returned to Nagano.

[Street leading to the gate of Zenkoji]

Hideyoshi has it briefly brought to Kyoto, but now the belief is gathering force that it brings ill-fortune to remove the icon from Zenkoji. Takeda Shingen and another warlord who removed it, die soon after the act, and also Hideyoshi dies the day after he repents and decides to return the icon.

Today, the image is never shown and those who set eyes upon it will go blind, is the popular belief. Every seven years, however, a copy of the icon is revealed in a grand ceremony (next time is in 2010). From the perspective of art history, the original statue could very well have been one of the many images that in the 6th and 7th centuries were imported from Korea. These triads of gilded bronze were usually rather small, only 20 to 30 centimeters high, as they were meant for small altars that could be carried around and placed in ordinary houses. Examples can be seen in the National Museum in Ueno, Tokyo.

[Main Hall of Zenkoji]

A dark passage
In February, Nagano is covered under a blanket of snow. Small flakes keep falling from the gray sky and dance around the large eaves of station building, that sports a mock temple roof. The city of Nagano grew up as the temple town of Zenkoji. The temple owned the town, so to speak, until 1868, when after the Meiji restoration the temple holdings were confiscated by the new government.

But Nagano still is Zenkoji. The last stretch of Chuo-dori that leads to the temple from the station, is full of shops selling Buddhist items and pilgrim lodges. Rows of subtemples, often providing lodgings too, line the approach to the Nio-Mon. After the huge San-Mon, I am standing in the immense courtyard, where a metal cauldron sends up clouds of incense.

The Main Hall, last rebuilt in 1707, is huge. It is the second largest wooden structure in Japan, after Todaiji. In the whiteness of the snow, the dark hall seems all the more massive. I enter the tatami covered building, looking at the Buddhist paraphernalia hanging from the high eaves. Under the central altar, a staircase leads down to a pitch-dark underground passage. This is the Kaidan-meguri, the Round of the Altar.

There is no light, the pilgrims seek their way touching the walls. It is an imaginary descent to Hell, a short tribulation of the senses. And somewhere in the middle of that black passage, on the wall, there is a metal key. The believer who finds and touches that key is said to be certain of rebirth in paradise. I do not find this artificial paradise of metal keys.

[Statue of Nyoze-hime in front of Nagano Station]

Lost in the darkness I do not even complete the subterraneous circuit. It does not matter. When I step outside, all murkiness has disappeared. Snow is lightly falling, I blink my eyes at the intensity of the light. This is my world, and it is good.

Address: 491 Nagano Motoyoshi-cho, Nagano-shi
Tel. 0262-34-3591
Access: Take a bus from Nagano Station on the JR Nagano Shinkansen Line and the Shinano Tetsudo/JR Shinonoi Line. Then 7 min. on foot from the bus stop Zenkoji or Zenkoji Daimon. It is also possible to walk from the station (about 25 min.).
References: The standard work on Zenkoji is Zenkoji and its Icon by Donald F. McCallum (Princeton University Press, 1994).
In the same neighborhood: the haiku stone by Basho in the Daihongan subtemple; the haiku stone by Issa in the temple grounds; the many haiku stones by Issa scattered over Nagano City; Saikoji Temple near Nagano Station, dedicated to Saint Karukaya.