The 10 Best Sacred & Religious Sites in Tsuruoka, Tohoku

Reviewed By kobekko

The temple has a long history that dates back more than 1000 years, but the existing buildings are about 150 years old, on average. Relatively speaking, they are of recent construction, as Japanese temples go. All the more, their quality and craftsmanship are very impressive, as the attached photographs illustrate. They show its five-story pagoda, the entrance gate to the temple complex, and its two guarding statues. The temple is also famous of the statues of“500 rakans,”which are housed in a special hall in the complex. “Rakans”are the legendary Buddhist priests who collaborated in producing important Buddhist scriptures. there exist many temples in Japan which can boast superior sculptural quality or history such statues. However, unlike those, the statues here have kept vivid color, and that definitely helps us appreciate the variety of facial features and attires, well demonstrating the diverse backgrounds and characters of those rakans. The temple also has a “treasure hall,”in which the valuable items in its possession are assembled. Of course, the majority of these treasures are Buddhist relics and ceremonial instruments, which are perhaps of little interest to ordinary Japanese people. However, I have found two items interesting, and show their pictures. One is the painting of Wang Zhaojun by Hishida Shunso, a famous Japanese painter, and the other are“snake”stones. As one such picture shows, stone consists of two parts with distinctive colors (green and beige). The stone is then cleverly cut and polished to bring out the shape of a snake in the beige color. Few may be acquainted with the story of Ms. Wang. She is counted among the four most beautiful ladies in Chinese history. The picture depicts the sad scene when she was sent out of the Han court to be wed to appease the king of Xingnu, the northern neighbor and the constant threat to the dynasty. She was one of many concubines for Han emperor of that time. They naturally had to compete among themselves, to be chosen by the emperor for favor. As such, all concubines bribed their respective painters, so as to have their pictures made more beautiful than their real figures. However, Ms. Wang did not agree to such practice and she did not bribe her painter. In return, the painter draw her picture to look rather ugly. The emperor, who saw the picture but not her in person, decided to send her to appease the Xingnu king. He only saw her when she had appeared in front of him to bid farewell, and recognized her beauty too late to save her. He then realized the on-going bribing practice by the court painters, and he had punished them by beheading.