Mibu-dera is not on the top-10 list of the average tourists visiting Kyoto for the first time, but it has a few interesting features. First it is old (est. 991). That doesn't mean it has old buildings (wood and fire don't mix and all that) but at least you can brag back hole that you saw a temple that four three times older than anything in North America (that won't work for Europeans, sorry about that ;) Apart from that, a quick look at the temple on google maps (see link above) will show a strange, circular and relatively modern structure south of the main hall. WTF? A sun dial? Well, not exactly. It's a sort of multi-level pyramid where about 1000 stone statues call jizo (地蔵) are enshrined, many of them being visible on the sides of the pyramid.
It is relatively rare to see this kind of high concentration of jizo statues. Another example is Nenbutsu-ji, where abandoned statues were collected in the mountains and brought in that temple. Mibu-dera is kind of similar, but since there's no hill or forest or any place to abandon such statues around, where do they come from? The answer lies underground, deep underground: they have been found during the digging of the city subway and surface lines such as tramways. According Hidesan, they have been collected since the Meiji era when the first tramways appeared. Recommended for: Access: Nearby: Yagi-tei 八木邸 (80m), Watchigai-ya 輪違屋 (980m), the Sumiya 角屋 (1km), Shinsen-en 神泉苑 (1.1km) External links: Website, ウィキペディア, Wikipedia, Wikipédia, Kyoto Navi, Trip Advisor, Kyoto Design, 京都風光, Marutake, そうだ京都, Satellite view, Map Keywords: Japan, 日本, Japon, Kyoto, 京都, 下京, 中京, 上京, Mibu-dera, 壬生寺, temple, 寺院, 仏閣 Statistics: id 364, 4 photos. |
