. Yakushipedia - ABC-Index 薬師如来 .
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Yakushi Nyorai 薬師如来 the Buddha of Medicine - Bhaisajyaguru
Legends from Tokyo / Edo 東京 - 江戸と薬師さん
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Tako Yakushi 蛸薬師 Octopus Yakushi
Spelled 多幸薬師 TA KO Yakushi for a lot of happiness and good luck.
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. Kinegawa Yakushi 木下川薬師 Yakushi from Kinegawa .
- Kigegawa Yakushi Engi - misspelling of Kinegawa
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三宅島 三宅村 Mitake Island
Yakushi Sama no kara neko 薬師様のカラ猫
When a child cries and mother does not know what to do about it, she tells it
"Here comes the karaneko cat of Yakushi Sama!".
、薬師様のカラ猫だぞ
karaneko 唐猫 ?
. Neko Yakushi 猫薬師 Yakushi Nyorai and the Cat .
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. Tako Yakushi 目黒の蛸薬師 Octopus Yakushi in Meguro, Edo .
多幸薬師 TA KO Yakushi for a lot of happiness and good luck
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- - - - - and one more Tako Yakushi in Kyoto
Tako Yakushidō (Octopus Yakushi Hall), Eifukuji Temple 永福寺 (lit. = Temple of Eternal Fortune), Kyoto
浄瑠璃山林秀院永福寺 - 京都市中京区新京極蛸薬師東側町５０３
- quote -
The temple originally stood in Nijo Muromachi and was founded in 1181. The engi, retold in the temple's pamphlet, informs believers about the miraculous origins of the temple.
In the Muromachi ward of Kyoto lived a rich man who shaved his head and sought his refuge in the Yakushi Buddha of Enryakuji on Mt Hiei 比叡山. Year after year, he made monthly pilgrimages to this Buddha. But as the years went by, he became old and weak, and one day, he spoke in front of the Yakushi Buddha:
"I am getting too old to continue my practice of monthly pilgrimages. Please let me have your image to place in my home, Lord Yakushi!"
After uttering this wish, the devout believer descended from Mt Hiei. That night, the Yakushi Buddha appeared to him in a dream and spoke: "In a certain place, a stone Yakushi statue carved by St Dengyo 伝教大師 [i.e. Saicho 最澄, the founder of Enryakuji and Tendai Buddhism] himself has been buried. You can take that home."
Full of joy, the next day the wealthy man climbed the mountain and when he dug in the indicated spot he indeed found a holy image hewn from stone that emitted a wondrous light.
He took this image home and built a hall of six by four bays for it. This temple was called Eifukuji, or Temple of Eternal Bliss, and it greatly flourished and young and old, men and women, flocked in great numbers to the temple to pay their respects.
In the Kencho period (1249-56) of Emperor Gofukakusa 後深草天皇 (1243 - 1304) there lived a monk called Zenko 善光 in this temple. It happened at one time that his mother fell ill. Although he took good care of her, she did not recover and spoke from her bed to Zenko: "If only I could eat some octopus (tako タコ), I like that so much from since I was young, that my illness might get better!"
Zenko was not allowed to buy octopus, a living being, for a meal because he was a Buddhist monk and therefore he was greatly distressed. Still, the thought of his sick mother was stronger than his awe for the precepts, so he took a wooden box in his arms and went to the market to find an octopus.
When he walked back, some people became suspicious that he, a monk, had bought a living creature for food and they followed him all the way to the gate of his temple, pressing him to show what was in the box. Zenko could not refuse and prayed with all his heart to the Lord Buddha: "I have only bought this octopus to help my mother recover from her illness. Lord Yakushi, please help me out of this difficulty!"
When he opened the box, the eight-legged octopus had been transformed into a set of eight sutra scrolls お経の巻物 and a light shone from them in all four directions.
The people who saw this all pressed their hands together in prayer and sang the praises of the Lord Yakushi, the Buddha of the Lapis Lazuli Paradise.
Strangely enough, the scriptures turned again into an octopus who then jumped into the pond in front of the temple where he changed into the form of the Yakushi Buddha. He emitted a green Lapis Lazuli light and when this struck the head of Zenko's mother her illness was immediately healed. She rose from her bed and in a loud voice sang the praises of the Lapis Lazuli Buddha, over and over again.
Thus the temple came to be known as Octopus Yakushi. From then on, when people visited and prayed for relief from illness, they immediately were healed; when women prayed for children, they were blessed with offspring; and all difficulties and problems were eliminated.
This reached the ears of His Majesty the Emperor and in 1441 the temple received an Imperial License. Since then prayers have been said here for bountiful harvests, the Emperor's long life, and the peace of the nation. When one prays ardently for divine protection, no wish is left unfulfilled: in the present world the seven ills are immediately dispelled and the seven blessings immediately granted.
- source : Ad Blankestijn -
To our day, the octopus is featured at the temple at the Yakushi Hall 蛸薬師堂
to rub for healing.
nade Yakushi なで薬師 Yakishi to be rubbed
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ema 絵馬 votive tablets
ema 絵馬 votive tablets
- source : yaplog.jp/emain -
CLICK for more photos !
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oboosan to tako お坊さんとタコ The priest and the octopus
Once upon a time
a priest on a trip was walking along the beach, when suddenly a large octopus came out of the waves and pleaded "Please let me be your student"!
So the priest took the octopus out of the water and carried it with him on his trip.
By nightfall the priest had completely lost his way. To ask for a shelter he knocked at a farmhouse. The owner was a man with bitter face, but when he realized the priest was carrying a delicious-looking octopus, he let them in.
While the priest was chanting the sutras for Yakushi Nyorai, the farmer prepared a very hot bath and tried to throw the octopus in it. Just at that time the priest interrupted his chanting with a loud shout of "Pay Attention"「喝！」 KATSU! and the clever octopus made his escape from the hot bath, while the farmer looked quite perplexed.
Next morning the priest and his octopus companion continued their trip safely.
The farmer, who had not gotten his delicious boiled octopus last night, was mubemling to himself and then tried to get into the hot bath himself. Just then - out of the bathtub came the large legs of an octopus and tired to suck at the body of the farmer.
This octopus was in fact Yakushi Nyorai, to whom the priest had prayed the night before.
Yakushi San begun to suck out all the bad intentions of the man's heart and attitude.
The farmer became quite a gentle caring man, after Yakushi san had sucked out his all maliciuos intentions.
And the trip of the priest and his octopus companion continued.
source : hinoki-diary.blogspot.jp
delicious Tako wafers with sweet filling 明石銘菓：たこ最中
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kuruma kaeshi no O-Yakushi san 車返のお薬師さん Yakushi who brought the car to a stop
In the time of the Kamakura Shogunate 鎌倉幕府 (1192 - 1333) they were transporting the statue of Yakushi Nyorai お薬師さん from 奥州平泉 Hiraizumi far away in Tohoku to Kamakura.
On their way, when they passes Shiraito 白糸の地, the cart suddenly became very heavy and did not move any more.
So the drivers decided to leave the statue here and built a small Hall for it.
They say that Yakushi had choosen this region of Shiraito for his stay.
- still trying to locate the Shiraito 白糸 -
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Repairing a Yakushi statue from the Edo period
薬師如来立像（江戸時代）の現状・保存修復
http://buddha-statue.at.webry.info/200901/article_1.html
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- - - - - reference - - - - -
Monsters, legends and Yakushi 妖怪データベース
- source : nichibun yokai database
- source : manga nihon mukashibanashi -
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. Yakushipedia - ABC-Index 薬師如来 .
. Yakushi Nyorai - Legends from the provinces .
. Yakushi Nyorai Pilgrimages 薬師霊場巡り - Introduction .
. O-Mamori お守り Amulets and Talismans .
. Japan - Shrines and Temples - ABC List .
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