2019/11/20

Priest Zenkai

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. Japan - Shrines and Temples - Index .
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Zenkai 禅海 Priest Zenkai
(?1691 / ?1687 - 1774)
A priest of the 曹洞宗 Soto Zen Sect.
He was the child of 越後国高田藩士 the Lord Takada from Echigo.
His boyhood name was 福原市九郎 Fukuhara Ichikuro.
His full priest name was 真如庵禅海 Shinnyo-An Zenkai.
He became a priest after both his parents had died. He left home and walked around the country.
In 1715 he took the name of Zenkai.
He is known for digging a tunnel in Oita, the Aonodomon in the gorge 耶馬渓 Yabakei.
He stayed at the temple 羅漢寺 Rakan-Ji in Bungo, when he learned about the dangerous route along 青野渡 Aonodo, where people and horses often lost their lives.
He begun to dig a tunnel for a safer passage in this area around 1730, with the permission of
豊前国中津藩主 the Lord of the Nakatsu Domain in Bungo.
With the help of local villagers and other Daimyo from Kyushu the work was completed within about 30 years.

Once it was finished, the villagers took money from the people who used the tunnel, it was the first toll road in Japan.


- photo : wikipedia -

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source and more photos : japanmystery.com/ooita/domon...

This place is mentioned in the famous novel about Zenkai:
Onshu no kanata ni 『恩讐の彼方に』
by Kikuchi Kan 菊池寛 (1888 - 1948)
In the novel the hero is called 了海 Ryokai.



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- 歌川広重 Hiroshige - 青の洞門(あおのどうもん)

Aonodōmon (青の洞門 meaning "blue tunnel")
is a tourist attraction located in the gorge of Yabakei, now part of Nakatsu City, in Ōita Prefecture, Japan.
Legend has it that before the tunnel was built, people had to climb over the cliffs through which the tunnel is built to reach an important local shrine. The path was very dangerous and people regularly fell to their deaths.
During the Edo period, a Buddhist monk named Zenkai, who had committed a murder in his earlier life, decided to build a safe passage for worshipers in order to atone for his crime. Beginning at the age of 49, he dedicated 30 years of his life to digging the 185 metre tunnel by hand, using only a hammer and chisel.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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青の洞門
お静(しず)の夫を殺害した福原市九郎(ふくはら・いちくろう)は、ついには一緒に逃亡していたお静までも殺し、地獄に堕ちて苦しめられる妄想に囚われる。その後、行き倒れた彼を介抱してくれた幼女の優しさに心打たれた市九郎は、自分が死ぬ夢を見て、運命に身をまかせて彷徨い歩く。そして痩せこけて衰弱した市九郎は、かつて彼の運命を予言した僧侶と再会して……!?僧侶となった市九郎が行き着く先とは?「青の洞門」...
数奇な運命に翻弄されながらも“青の洞門"を掘り抜いた僧侶の生涯を、鬼才・ジョージ秋山が大胆に描き上げた歴史大作。通りすがりの僧侶から「おぬしの生涯は不吉な血で染められる」と予告された少年・福原市九郎(ふくはら・いちくろう)。
その後、親友から斬りつけられる夢を見た市九郎は、それが現実になった事に驚愕する。そして母親が何者かに殺される夢を見た市九郎は……!?
- reference source : uta.573.jp/series... -


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禅海和尚 clay bell of Zenkai
from Oita
source : eonet.ne.jp/~i-kimoto/Furusato...


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source : amazon.co.jp...
米焼酎 25度 禅海 720ml Shochu Shnaps drink
made by 旭酒造 Asahi Shuzo


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The gorge of Yabakei (耶馬渓)
is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty spanning the municipalities of Kusu and Nakatsu in Ōita Prefecture, Japan.
Located within Yaba-Hita-Hikosan Quasi-National Park, it was selected as one of the 100 Landscapes of Japan during the Shōwa era. Yabakei was formerly the name of a town, but was merged into Nakatsu Municipality in 2005.  According to Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan, official confirmed report, in despite the absence of rain, suddenly landslides occurred on the mountain slope, three houses were buried in the place and six person were lives on 11 April 2018.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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- Kokeshi from Oita -


. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .


................................................................................. Fukui 福井県 
福井市 Fukui city

. ryuutoo 龍燈 / 龍灯 / 竜灯 と伝説 Legends about Ryuto, "Dragon Lantern" .
When 禅海上人 Saint Zenkai arrived near 糸崎浦 Itoizaki inlay on kame 亀 a turtle, the villagers saw a strange light on the sea. When they pulled it out, it was a statue of 観音 Kannon Bosatsu, so they placed the statue in the local temple.


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................................................................................. Oita 大分県 
耶馬渓町 Yabakei town

Kannnon no zo 観音の像 a statue of Kannon Bosatsu
Near the Yabakei gorge lived a woman who always prayed piously to 観音 Kannon Bosatsu.
One day she was almost killed by somebody, but the statue of Kannon appeared and took the deadly cut instead.
Maybe thel priest of the temple made up this story to attract more people . . . anyway . . .

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. Kumohachiman 雲八幡宮 Kumo-Hachiman Shrine at Yabakei .
and the Kappa Festival

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -

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. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .

. Japan - Shrines and Temples - Index .


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