Seasoning the Seasons - 2012/12/05 - The Buddhist Statues of Kyoto

Dec. 5, Wed.
Millennium Guardians
The Buddhist Statues of Kyoto

Kyoto is a treasure house of Buddhist statuary. The many statues there include 37 designated national treasures and 416 important cultural properties, second only in number to those of Nara.
Jizo, the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, is especially closely entwined with the people's lives in Kyoto and small roadside shrines housing Jizo statues can be seen all over the city. Local residents sweep in front of the shrines each morning and it is only normal here for people to pause and hold their hands together in prayer as they pass by on their way to school or work.
The city has grown with the images and those images provide the people with precious moments of tranquility. This is the story of how much the statues to which they pray mean in the daily lives of Kyoto people.

Ominugui at the Kondo Hall (Toji)
Ominugui is the Japanese name for thorough cleaning of the statuary. The main image at the Toji temple's Kondo Hall, a statue of Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaisajyaguru, the healing Buddha), was cleaned by specialists from the Bijutsuin National Treasure Repair Center in September, 2011 for the first time in several decades. It was a major job and took a whole week to complete, including both erecting and dismantling the scaffolding around the statue. It will not happen again for many years.

The 3-D Mandala of the Kodo Hall (Toji)
The 3-D Mandala inside the hall consists of a group of 21 statues and expresses an esoteric Buddhist worldview. The great priest Kukai (Kobo Daishi) is said to have been involved in its creation. Fifteen of the 21 statues date from the early Heian era over a thousand years ago and are designated national treasures.

Opening times at Toji
Summer: 8:30 - 17:30 (Mar. 20 - Sep. 19)
Winter: 8:30 - 16:30 (Sep. 20 - Mar. 19)
http://www.toji.or.jp/ (Japanese only)

The Six Kannon of the Senbonshakado Hall
The six statues of Kannon, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, were made in the Kamakura period, which lasted from the late 12th to early 14th centuries. Kannon was thought to save people suffering along six ways and many such Kannon groups were made from Heian to Kamakura times. This group at the Senbonshakado (Senbon Buddha Hall) is the only one complete one to have survived from that era down to the present day.
The six ways are the six worlds of rebirth. The six Kannon provide succor in each.

Opening times at the Senbonshakado (Daihoonji)
9:00 - 17:00

Restoring Buddhist Statuary
Buddhist statues that are constantly exposed to view are easily damaged and in need of repeated restoration. There are many expert restorers in Kyoto. The one introduced in this program is Takamitsu Uno, who has his workshop in nearby Kameoka City.

Making Statuary for the Disaster Zone
Kyoto-based Buddhist sculptor Kakuzan Sakurai started making statues as gifts for people of the disaster zone following the Great East Japan Earthquake. We travel there to find out what these small statues have meant for the people of the region.
Read more about Sakurai's workshop at: http://www.kyoubussi.com (Japanese only)

Jizo Bon
The doors of small roadside shrines all over Kyoto are opened in late August after Japan's Obon festival of the dead. This is a day of thanks to the Jizo for watching over children. Special altars are put out and old and young gather before the statues.

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