of Mercy, is one of the most popular divinities, and is said to have refused the rest of Nirvana to save the souls of men. She is generally supposed to possess miraculous powers to deliver mankind from the dangers and perils of this mortal life: she hears the pleadings of the afflicted and assuages their sorrows, being especially considered the refuge of the distressed. Kannon is an abbreviation of her real title Kanzeon. Kan means to be possessed of spiritual insight, ze signifies the world or universe, and on is sound or voice; this deity hearkens to the world-sound and represents the principle of universal lovingkindness.
According to Chinese tradition Kannon was the young daughter of the governor of a town in Szechwan. When she was eighteen years of age the maiden repaired for worship to a temple where there were five hundred priests: the latter refused to let her return home, detaining her by force. Her father, infuriated by this act of treachery, caused all the priests to be slain and the temple was set on fire, his daughter ostensibly perishing in the general destruction. But the following night she appeared in a vision to her sorrowing parent, saying she had risen from the flames to paradise and was immortalized as a goddess. From that time she has been venerated by countless multitudes: in Japan she is represented as a beautiful idealization of womanhood, usually enthroned upon the lotus, the sacred emblem of Nirvana.
Another version of this legend, also of Chinese origin, relates that the parent of the goddess was enraged because his beautiful young daughter steadfastly refused all offers of marriage and was firm in her determination to enter religion as a nun. Various methods of compassing her death were attempted and averted by miraculous means: however, at last she was suffocated, and her pure soul descended to the underworld. But Enma, dread judge of souls, finding his hell was converted into paradise by her angelic presence, restored her to the upper world, where she lived for nine years practicing good works upon a mysterious island known as Fudarakujima—ostensibly in the vicinity of China—healing the sick and preserving mariners from the perils of tempest and shipwreck. Often this divinity is represented with eleven faces (Juichimen Kannon) symbolic of shedding sweetness and mercy in all directions; and also with a thousand arms (Senju Kannon), in reality but forty, to embrace the earth and to alleviate the sufferings of all mankind.
In eastern Japan there are thirty-three temples sacred to Kannon. Pilgrims believe it an act of great merit to visit these in order, and those who make the complete round of all the eighty-eight temples dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy have achieved such a supreme act of merit as to preserve them from Hell, and to open the gates of life everlasting! The Sugimoto Kannon is the first in importance on the round of Eastern Japan, the second being the Iwadono* Temple of Zushi; the An'yo-in (Kamakura) is the third; while the colossal statue at Hase comes fourth on the list. These pilgrims leave behind a printed slip, or label, as a proof of their visit; multitudes of these will be observed attached to the walls and pillars of the temple.
Another form of the divinity is the Bato, or Horse-Headed Kannon, when she is represented with a horse's head carved upon her headdress, and is supposed to exercise a protective influence over horses and cattle. Hence, offerings to Kannon are presented by farmers and peasants: adjoining the sanctuary of this temple a somewhat decayed white plaster horse stands in a wooden stable that was undoubtedly deposited for this reason.
The annual festival is observed on August 10th, upon which occasion the doors of the inner repository are opened and the scene assumes a very gay aspect, crowds of devotees assembling to pay their respects to the beloved divinity, "who looketh down above the sound of prayer,"
Storms and hatred give way at the sound of her name,
At the sound of her name demons vanish:
By her name one may stand firm in the sky like a sun.
Footnote
* This venerable temple is picturesquely situated, hidden away in the hills behind Zushi: it was also founded by the eminent Gyoki Bosatsu in 720, and belongs to the Sodo doctrines, the most powerful branch of the Zen sect. Ancient records state that the third shogun Sanetomo occasionally repaired to the Iwadono Kannon for worship. This woodland solitude is well worth a visit for its romantic environment: a mountain track at the rear—known for many centuries as the junrei michi, or pilgrims' road—leads to the Kanazawa highway, a few paces beyond the Sugimoto Kannon.
Hōkoku-ji
SOMEWHAT FARTHER along the Kanazawa road will be seen the approach to this small temple; a wooden bridge is crossed, spanning the rocky upper course of the Nameri River and shaded by the spreading branches of a fine old fir tree. A lychgate roofed with moldering thatch and piercing an openwork stone wall marks the temple precincts. Although all that was best and most valuable has passed away, and become "portions and parcels of the dreadful past," yet this lovely spot is well worth inspection for the charm of its romantic setting—the ancient trees; the rocks and caves; the riot of every shade of luxuriant green; the carpet of ferns and wild flowers; the densely wooded valleys—beyond and around the hills rising up to the rocky height of Kinubari-yama: above all for the indescribable atmosphere of peace and solitude, and mystic remoteness from the things of earth that seems to envelop like a dream so many of these old-world shrines and temples in Japan.
A small courtyard lies beyond the gate, shaded by lofty and dignified old trees; a flight of well-worn stone steps, thickly coated with moss, confronts the visitor with the sole remaining fabric that the inroads of successive centuries have left to the temple of Hokoku-ji.
Founded some six hundred years ago by Ashikaga Ietoki— grandfather of Takauji, first of the Ashikaga shoguns—the temple derived its name from Ietoki's nom de plume. In its bygone days of prosperity there were five edifices, with a bell tower, that have by degrees ingloriously dwindled to a solitary small and insignificant building. The last stroke of fate fell as recently as some thirty-five years ago, when the fine old butsuden (hall of images) was completely destroyed by one of the disastrous fires that these wooden structures are so unfortunately liable to, and with it perished all its priceless contents, including many highly prized statues and other important works of art. Of this calamity, so deplored by art lovers, not a trace remains. The site of the holocaust is as completely effaced by the finger of time as though it never existed, and the little valley of the vanished treasures has degenerated into placid ricefields. The centerpiece of the present altar is a very ancient figure of Buddha; another of the few remaining possessions is a curious statue of Kannon crowned with a jeweled head-ornament and said to be of extreme antiquity. On the right-hand side of the altar is preserved an interesting relic in the realistic and life-sized statue of the first priest who officiated at this temple—a disciple of the first priest of Engakuji, known as Tengan. This effigy is painted in natural colors and reposes in an ecclesiastical chair, the robes being lacquered a dull red hue.
Owing to the various calamities, extending over many hundred years, the treasures belonging to the temple have become sadly reduced. The existing remnants include an antique metal mirror which is said to date from the beginning of the Kamakura period (twelfth century); a finely carved Chinese suzuri, or writing box—made of black stone and ornamented with a design of quaint and nondescript animals according to the zoological ideas of that period; ancient seals of the temple; and various venerable objects that are supposed to have been the property of the sculptor Takuma. This famous artist is said to have resided in the vicinity of Hokoku-ji, hence this district was known as Takumagayatsu, or the Valley of Takuma.
Immediately facing the temple stands a graceful old pine which is said to date back from the early days of the temple. Its shape is superb, and as yet happily unimpaired by its great age: in
