Inaba Yakushi

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Inaba Yakushi 因幡薬師

. Legends about Yakushi Nyorai 薬師如来 / 薬師様 / 薬師さん .
- Introduction -


other 薬師縁起　Yakushi Engi - below
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因幡堂 平等寺 Inaba-Do Byodo-Ji - Kyoto

The origin of temple Byoodooji 平等寺 Byodo-Ji is referred to in "Inabado Engi" (Legends of the Inaba-Do)
included in 山城名勝志 Yamashiro Meisho Shi "Annals of Yamashiro's picturesque sites" and 因幡堂縁起絵巻 Inabado engi-emaki "picture scroll of legends of the Inabado" .



五条高倉薬師堂 Gojo Takakura Yakushi Do
at Byodo-ji Temple (Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City), which is known for kyogen "Inabado".

京都府京都市下京区烏丸通松原上る因幡堂町728
728 Inabado-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto

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In the Kamakura period at 997, 橘行平 Tachibana no Yukihira became governor of 因幡国 Inaba provice (now in Tottori). While he was there he became ill and had a dream.
At the beach of 因幡賀留津 Karunotsu in Inaba there is a sacred tree that would save him. When he went there, it was not a tree but a statue of Yakushi Nyorai hauled out of the waters. So he had a preliminary Hall build for the statue.

When Yukihira had gone back to Kyoto, he had another dream. A monk from the "Heaven in the West" 西の天 came to visit him and told him to save all the people in the east.
When he woke up he was told about a visitor at his gate. He thought it was the monk from his dream and went to the West Gate to greet him. By the time they opened the gate, the statue of Yakushi was standing there. It had come flying after him and landed in his estate. This is the beginning of the 因幡堂 Inaba Hall.
This was in the year 1003.

The temple soon grew in fame and even the Emperor came to worship here. Soon the Yakushi Moode 薬師もうで Mode, prayer visit to Yakushi became popular in Kyoto. In its prime time it had more than 8 sub-temples and a special entrance for official visitors.

Yakushi Nyorai at this temple is said to keep people free from cancer - in our modern times.
The statue was probably carved by the sculptor Kooshoo 康尚 Kosho in the mid or late Heian period.



Road to the "Gate that does not open".

Around 1170 during the fighting of the Genji and Heike 源平争乱 Emperor Takakura 高倉天皇 (1161 - 1181) lived just South of the Inaba Hall at the 東五条院 Higashi Gojo-In and the gate straight up the road at the temple was called akezu no mon　不明門　"Gate that does not open".
In 1171 Emperor Takakura gave it the name of temle Byodo-Ji.




本尊薬師如来立像 Yakushi Nyorai - The main statue of the temple
The statue is 165 cm high.
The name of the temple in Tottori is Zakooji 座光寺 Zako-Ji.







Statue of Tachibana no Yukihira 橘行平





The temple is famous for the Kyogen performances - 因幡堂狂言 Inaba Kyogen.





omamori　お守り　amulet from Byodo-Ji




shuin 朱印 stamp from Byodo-Ji


-- - - - HP of the temple 平等寺 Byodo-Ji
- source : www.inabado.jp

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Kooshoo, Kōshō 康尚 Buddhist sculptor Kosho
Called 「仏師職の祖」, "the Ancestor of professional Buddhist Sculptors".
He did not work for any special temple but established his own workshop in Kyoto. He had many disciples who promoted his style.
His father was 源康行, his son Joochoo, Jōchō 定朝 Jocho (? - 1057).

He also made statues of Byakudan Yakushi 白檀薬師像 and Fudo Myo-o 東福寺同聚院不動明王坐.
- reference -


. Buddhist sculptors 仏師 Edo Period to the Present Day .


. kyoogen, kyōgen　狂言 Kyogen performance .
- Introduction -

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因幡堂薬師縁起絵巻 Inabado Yakushi Engi Emaki

This scroll
depicts the construction of the Inaba-Do hall at the temple Byodo-Ji in Kyoto.
The story is told in the record of 御堂関白記 Mido Kanpaku Ki and others.
The famous scroll has been damaged by fire and is not complete.
東京国立博物館 Tokyo National Museum
- source : www.emuseum.jp/detail


A much older legend from Inaba / Tottori - about Okuninushi no Mikoto (Daikoku in Buddhism) :
. The White Rabbit of Inaba 因幡の白兎 .



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- - - - - Edo　江戸　Tokyo 　東京 - - - - -

Kinegawa Yakushi 木下川薬師（きねがわやくし）Yakushi from Kinegawa

Jokooji 浄光寺　Joko-Ji 　- 木下川薬師浄光寺
Tokyo - Katsushika 葛飾区東四つ木1-5-9
and
伝教大師　Dengyo Daishi


嘉祥2年（849）僧広智の草庵にはじまり、貞観2年（860）3月その弟子慶寛によって一寺となり、浄光寺と名づけられた。古くから<木下川薬師>として知られ、一千有余年の法灯を伝える関東屈指の古刹である。草創の由来については、嘉歴2年（1327）の青竜山薬師仏像縁記」に明らかである。大正8年荒川放水路開削工事による移転以前は、現在地の西北0.6キロ、江戸川水道橋の少し上流にあった。
草創以来、赫々として郷民の崇敬を集めたが、乱世にいたりいくたびか兵火のため焼失、寺領を没収せられ、応永年間（1394-1428）再び戦禍にかかり、荒廃状態となった。時の別当証円は法脈の絶えるのをうれい、領主奥津家定に願い出て、その斡旋によって関東管領上杉憲実から、当寺の別当職および寺領等の補佐を得て中興した。その後も幾多の消長を経、天正19年（1590）住僧良寛は徳川家に愁訴し、薬師供養料として5石の朱印地を得、堂舎を改築し、将軍家の祈願所となり、また江戸時代を通じて、毎年、将軍家の代参があり、江戸城紅葉山の歴代将軍霊屋の別当職を勤め、浅草浅草寺の筆頭格を占め、享保5年（1720）3月、将軍吉宗の放鷹以来、御膳所に指定されて慣例となり、幕末まで継続した。天保11年（1840）火災により本堂以下ことごとく灰燼に帰したが、幸に本尊をはじめ寺宝の大部分はその難を免れか、今なお保存されている。
（葛飾区教育委員会　葛飾区寺院調査報告より）
- source : katsushika/temple_eyotsugi_joko.shtml




- - - - - HP of the temple
- source : kinegawa-yakushi.jp


Kigegawa Yakushi Engi misspelling of Kinegawa
The Dragon in China and Japan
By M. W. De Visser

§1. Dengyo Daishi's image of Yakushi Nyorai.
The Kigegawa Yakushi engi says the following:
"The image of Yakushi Nyorai in Jokwoji (also called Shoryuzan, "Blue Dragon monastery"), in Katsushika district, Shimosa province, is made by Dengyo Daishi.
When Jikaku Daishi stayed in Asakusa-dera (the famous Kwannon temple in Asakusa, the well-known district of Yedo), an old man with grey hair appeared to him and said: 'In the North-east there is a holy place, where I have dedicated a miraculous image made by Dengyo Daishi'. Thereupon the man disappeared, and Jikaku went outside and looked towards the North-east. Suddenly a lucky cloud (zui-un, a cloud of a lucky colour) arose, and in it a blue dragon was visible.
Then the Daishi secretly left the temple and went in search of this blue dragon, till he arrived at the cottage (where the above-mentioned old man had lived as a hermit and had obtained the image). There he worshipped the image and saw the blue dragon, which was still there. Jikaku turned himself to the lucky cloud and addressed the dragon as follows:

'I wish to say a few words to you, you sacred dragon, listen to me. I want to built a temple here, which you must guard and protect from calamity. From this moment I appoint you guardian-god of the shrine'.

When the Daishi had finished speaking, the dragon, which had listened motionless, with his head bent down in reverence, disappeared. The priest considered this to be a good sign, and called the sanctuary 'Blue Dragon temple'.
Up till this day from time to time a dragon- lantern appears there as a wonderful, lucky omen,- probably in consequence of the above facts (i. e. because the blue dragon is the temple's guardian-god)".

The Udo meisho ki tells us that from olden times many pilgrims went to this temple, which is also called Jokwoji ("Temple of the Pure Light"), to worship the dragon-lantern, which was sure to arise before the image of Yakushi Nyorai on the eighth day of every month, and on New- Year's morning.

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Before the Buddhist chapel of Kasai Yakushi situated on a mountain north of Okayama, in Bizen province, there stood a "Dragon-lantern pine tree". Every night, especially in summer time, will-o'-the-wisps were seen there.
- source : books.google.co.jp


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. ryuutoo 龍燈 "dragon lantern" .
shiranui, shiranu-i 不知火 (しらぬい) "unknown light"
A phenomenon at the Ariakekai sea in Kagoshima, Kyushu, in the evening hours.
It is also seen in other parts of Japan as a light that the Dragon God sends out to honor the deities of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.

kigo for mid-autumn
With a haiku by Matsuo Basho.



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Medicine Master Buddha:
The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan




This profusely illustrated volume illuminates the primacy of icons in disseminating the worship of the Medicine Master Buddha (J: Yakushi Nyorai) in Japan. Suzuki’s meticulous study explicates how the devotional cult of Yakushi, one of the earliest Buddhist cults imported to Japan from the continent, interacted and blended with local beliefs, religious dispositions, and ritual practices over the centuries, developing its own distinctive imprint on Japanese soil. Worship of the Medicine Master Buddha became most influential during the Heian period (794–1185), when Yakushi’s popularity spread to different levels of society and locales outside the capital. The large number of Heian-period Yakushi statues found all across Japan demonstrates that Yakushi worship was an integral component of Heian religious practice.

Medicine Master Buddha focuses on the ninth-century Tendai master Saichō (767–822) and his personal reverence for a standing Yakushi icon. The author proposes that, after Saichō’s death, the Tendai school played a critical role in popularizing the cult of this particular icon as a way of memorializing its founding master and strengthening its position as a major school of Japanese Buddhism. This publication offers a fresh perspective on sculptural representations of the Medicine Master Buddha (including the famous Jingoji Yakushi), and in so doing, reconsiders Yakushi worship as foundational to Heian religious and artistic culture.
source :　www.brill.com/medicine-master-buddha


Yakushi Engi, Yakushiengi 薬師縁起　The Omen of Yakushi Temple
Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan
By Yui Suzuki
- source : books.google.co.jp


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. Legends about Yakushi Nyorai 薬師如来 / 薬師様 / 薬師さん .

. Yakushipedia - ABC-Index 薬師如来 .

. Japan - Shrines and Temples - ABC .


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