Material : Bronze
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Place(s) of worship
Sculpture (Statues)
Area related
Kamakura (Japon)
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| Description |  |
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Tengu {ten-goo} are legendary creatures believed to live deep in ancient mountains or a god of mountain, and those in here are called Karasu {kah-rah-soo} (crow) Tengu as their appearance with a pair of wings indicates. They were brought from a temple called Hokoji {hoh-koh-gee}, another Rinzai Zen temple in Shizuoka Prefecture, in 1890 as its offshoot. Back at the time, the Temple's fortune was on the wane with few patron-worshipers visiting here as a result of Shinto becoming the state religion. The Temple was in financial difficulties with no help whatsoever from the governments. The parishioner system initiated by the Tokugawa Shogunate had collapsed. Even the Temple was on the verge of dilapidation.
However, opening of the Yokosuka Line railways in 1889 linking Tokyo to Kamakura (and Yokosuka, Japan's naval base) gave the Temple a great opportunity of revival. Chief Priest Kando Aozora {kan-doh ah-o-zoh-rah} (1825-1904) had a divine revelation in a dream one night, in which he was suggested to invite and enshrine Karasu Tengu of Hokoji. It was attracting a huge worshipers in Shizuoka as a deity to ward off evils. Following this revelation, he immediately asked Hokoji to help enshrining Karasu Tengu in the Temple, and built a shrine here as its affiliate at the best spot of the Temple's grounds.
With the opening of the Yokosuka Line, Hansobo soon began to be flooded with many worshipers, particularly on the 17th day each month, the day consecrated to Karasu Tengu. Since their statues were made of iron, however, the government confiscated them in early 1940s to produce weapons. Those statues we see today were made new in 1979. The Temple continues to run a ritual for those Tengu on the 17th day every month. At the top of the steps, 145 meters above sea level, is a shrine, in which Hansobo Daigongen {dye-gon-ghen} is enshrined.
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