5 KURO-DANI (BLACK RAVINE TEMPLE)
At the southern point of Yoshida Hill, Priest Honen built his small hermitage, which he named Kuro-dani (also known as the Konkai Komyo-ji) for the Black Ravine in which he had studied on Mount Hiei. Kuro-dani is where Priest Honen came to the conclusion that the Nembutsu was the only means to salvation in the world after this one. In 1175, it was here that he came when he found the Tendai faith of Mount Hiei, where he lived as a monk, not satisfying. Here, in this location beyond the influences of the monastery or the city, he lived in a simple hermitage, devoting himself to prayer and study and renouncing the world around him. In his studies, he read Genshin’s (Enshin Sozu’s) Ojo Yoshu based on a commentary by the Chinese monk Shantao (Shendo) and, in 1175, at the age of 43, he found the religious conviction and satisfaction that had hitherto eluded him.
The Mie-do (Founder’s Hall) at Kuro-dani holds a seated wooden image of Honen, its founder.
According to temple legend, while seated on a rock, fervently praying, Honen perceived a trail of purple clouds in the west, the Western Paradise of Amida, just as he came to realize the truth of the doctrine of Jodo (the Pure Land of Amida)—that the repetition of the Nembutsu can alone bring salvation. One of the most precious relics at Kuro-dani is the “Purple Cloud Rock” on which Honen was sitting when he received insight: “Only repeat the name of Amida with all your heart, whether walking or standing still, whether sitting or lying. Never cease this practice, even for a moment. This is the practice which brings salvation without fail, for it is in accordance with the original vow of the Buddha.”
That Purple Rock, the main gateway and the pagoda are the only objects to have survived a 1935 fire. What had been a simple retreat was to develop into a full monastery by the close of the 1200s. Fires have destroyed the buildings on various occasions, and thus the present structures are all recent ones. Located on a hillside, a flight of steps leads to the 1860 two-story gate with two side units for the staircases to the second floor.
The most important building is the Mie-do, (Founder’s Hall), a bright, tatami-matted hall with shoji on three sides and a plain wooden interior with four gilded pillars about the central shrine area. The shrine has a seated image in wood of Honen holding a rosary, reputedly carved by him in 1207, and brought to Kuro-dani in 1609. Lovely bouquets of flowers are before the image of Honen.
To the south and east of the Mie-do is the Amida-do, with a seated gilded Amida image with a 1,000 Buddha aureole behind it, said to have been created by Genshin. The ceiling of the hall is covered with a painting of a dragon. On the rear of the wall behind the Amida is a painted Buddha image, while to the right side of the hall is a small case with the symbolic 1,000 small gilt Buddhas figures. The temple cemetery lies beyond the main complex of monastic buildings, with a three-story pagoda consecrated to Monju, the deity of wisdom.
The temple lies just to the northeast of the Heian Shrine and Okazaki Park. It is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is an entry fee to the Mie-do.
SHINNYO-DO Just to the north of Kuro-dani is the Shinnyo-do, another Jodo temple that was begun in 992, although its buildings are from a 1693 rebuilding. It also has a two-story gateway with side stair structures and then a three-story pagoda. The Hondo has an Amida image credited to Ennin (Jikaku Daishi, 794–864) while a secondary building on the left of the Hondo is the Shoin, a study with paintings of a pine tree, of a crane in flight and of a peacock and peahen. A tokonoma and chigaidana enhance the room, which looks out upon a lovely small garden of sand, stones and moss, the bushes at its rear screening the neighboring cityscape— and with Mount Daimonji as part of a “borrowed” scenery for the garden. (There is a fee to enter the Shoin and garden.)
The main festivity of the temple occurs from November 5 to 15 to remember a daimyo in the Middle Ages who recited the Nembutsu for ten days and nights. An annual Ojuya service is held at which the Nembutsu is recited. Many thousands of worshippers are drawn to the temple at this time. The services run from 5:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the 15th. There is also a procession at 2:00 p.m. on the 15th as the monks and children parade through the temple grounds.
YOSHIDA SHRINE Yoshida Jinja (Yoshida Shrine) lies to the north of Shinnyo-do. If you are on foot, you can take a path between them. If arriving at the Yoshida Shrine directly, take bus 203 to the Hyakumanben bus stop on Higashi-oji-dori, then walk south on Higashi-oji-dori to Higashi Ichi-jo-dori (just behind Kyoto University) and turn left. The street ends at the entrance to the Yoshida Shrine at the foot of the hill on which the shrine is located. The shrine is open during daylight hours with no entry fee.
Yoshida Shrine was founded by Fujiwara-no-Yamakage in 859 as the tutelary shrine of the Fujiwaras, the family who were the rulers behind the throne from the 700s onward. As a result, the shrine also served as the tutelary shrine of the capital and a continuing link with the Fujiwara family, whose original shrine and homes were in the Yamashina area just to the east of Kyoto. The Yamashina Shrine and the Fujiwara residence were moved to Asuka (south of Nara) when that area became the first settled capital of Japan. The shrine was later moved to Nara by Fujiwara-no-Fuhito in the early 700s when that new Imperial capital was created. Thus, as the power behind the throne, the Fujiwaras took their family shrine with them each time they moved.
A large vermilion torii greets visitors to Yoshida Shrine.
According to legend, the original Fujiwara ancestral spirits came to the Kasuga Shrine in Nara from their original shrine in Yamashina riding on the back of a sacred deer, since deer were believed to be the messengers of the gods. When the ancestral spirits were moved to Kyoto, it is said that once again they arrived on the back of a deer, and thus deer have always been associated with the Yoshida Shrine as well as with the Kasuga Shrine in Nara.
The Yoshida family leaders were the hereditary priests of the shrine, and in the 14th century these descendents of an ancient clan of diviners created an intellectual system meant to prove that Shinto was the root of Buddhism—in contrast to the reverse claim that had been promulgated by Buddhist priests as Ryobu (Dual) Shinto developed. They enshrined all “eight million kami (god spirits)” at Yoshida Shrine so it would become the central shrine for the nation. These pretensions came to an end when the Meiji government came into power and attempted to reduce any influence by Buddhism in Japan—even the claim that Shinto preceded Buddhism. With the establishment of Kyoto University, the shrine at least became the guardian shrine of that institution, if not the nation at large.
Yoshida Shrine is at the eastern end of Higashi Ichi-jo-dori where Yoshida-yama (Yoshida Hill) rises sharply from the flat land, and here is a large vermilion torii and two stone lanterns A wide tree-lined path leads to a second vermilion torii and to the flight of steps up the hill to the shrine. A roofed purification water basin is at the left of the second torii, and north of it is a small shrine replete with torii, Heiden (Offertory) and Honden (Spirit House) behind a vermilion fence. Here also is a small kura (storage building).
At the top of the hillside stairway is a plateau on which stands the main buildings of the shrine, primarily on a north–south orientation. The first portion of the precincts, separated by a vermilion fence from the second part, has at its southern portion a small roped area for a ceremonial fire. To the right (east) is a bronze recumbent deer, a reminder of the messenger that brought the deities of the shrine here from Nara. A roofed open structure, which can serve as a stage, is on the left, oriented to the west, facing a shrine building. Ahead to the right is a similar open and roofed structure.
Beyond the vermilion fence, which is entered through a torii passageway, is the roofed Heiden (Offertory), then a ceremonial stage to the right and, on the east, a staircase ascending the hillside to another