Japan Navigator

When writing about Sei Shonagon and her poem stone in Sennyuji, I discovered I still had an unpublished article about a visit to that temple. It is one of the pieces that still has to go in the “108 Temple Pilgrimage,” but I will first post it here.

Located at the foot of Mt. Tsukinowa, almost due east of Kyoto Station, Sennyuji - the Temple of the Bubbling Spring - surprises by its tranquility and refined beauty.

It is almost unbelievable to find a temple so quiet in such proximity to the bustling city center. Perhaps adding to its gentility are Sennyuji’s old connections to the Imperial House - several emperors and their consorts have been buried at the back of the temple grounds. When we come here on a hot day in August, the cool white gravel of the grounds and brown timbers of the buildings soothe our spirits…

[Buddha Hall of Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto]

Although Sennyuji traces its origins to a chapel built by the omnipresent saint Kukai, its real founding dates back to 1218 and the efforts of the priest Tsukinowa Shunjo. Having studied in China, Shunjo built a temple in Chinese style in which he synthesized Japan’s four major Buddhist denominations of Shingon, Tendai, Zen and Ritsu. The connection with the imperial family started already soon after the founding, in 1242, when the mausoleum of Emperor Shijo was erected here.

Today’s buildings are all of a more recent age. We first enter the Butsuden, finding coolness and shade under its high roof. We sit on a bench in the dim hall and rest from the long walk from Tofukuji Station. We had to tramp along a busy road, in the stench of petrol and melting tarmac and the pandemonium of Kyoto’s modern traffic. Then a side street went off towards the eastern hills, along old houses and temples.

A small gate followed, behind which lay a road that seemed already part of the temple complex. It was lined with stately trees and shut out the world. Here the stillness started, too, but it seemed still a long way to the freshness of the Buddha Hall to us who had been walking in the heat all day.

[Buddha Hall of Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto]

The Buddha Hall
The Chinese-style hall was built in 1668 by the then Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna. The statues on the altar - a Shaka, Amida and Kannon - have been attributed to Unkei, but then, so many statues bear his name in vain. We can only view them from a distance, but they lack the vigor of Unkei’s work and seem from a later date, perhaps the time the hall was built.

By the same process of accretion, the dragon on the ceiling is said to be the work of Kano Tan’yu, while a white robed Kannon image at the back of the altar also bears the inscription of that famous painter. All these illustrious names are irrelevant. The dragon soaring on the ceiling, the serene Kannon and the three Buddhas are beautiful enough of themselves, they have no need of borrowed luster.

[The spring of Sennyuji]

The Bubbling Spring
Coming out of the hall, to the side of the grounds we find a small wooden structure protecting a well. This is the “bubbling spring” that gave the temple its name. Peeping inside, we only see dry moss. The spring apparently has succumbed to the hot weather - or has become the victim of diminishing ground water levels in modern cities.

At the back of the Buddha Hall stands a Shariden (Relic Hall) that can not be entered. Behind that again, is the Reimei-den, a hall built in Meiji times where the imperial ancestral spirits are enshrined. The hall stands in its own, closed compound. We can only see the cypress bark covered roof that reminds us of the old imperial palace, Gosho.

We walk to the white-graveled area in front of a wooden fence with gate that closes off the area of the imperial tombs. It is quiet here, so isolated, that suddenly the cry of the cicadas surprises us like a thunderous roar.

[Imperial tombs in Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto]

In the Gozasho, where also the temple offices are, we find some buildings that were actually donated from the imperial palace, decorated with beautiful screens and impressive in their sober simplicity. But we hurry on, as the afternoon is late, and we still have one more chapel to visit. That is the Kannon Hall, close to Sennyuji’s entrance.

[Entrance to Kannon Hall of Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto]

Yokihi Kannon
The Kannon hall houses a miraculous image, that we have already visited several times in the past ten years. The image of the Goddess of Mercy is said to be a portrait of - and thus identified with - the famous Chinese imperial concubine Yang Guifei.

A woman of exquisite beauty - said to be the most beautiful woman in the long history of China - Yang Guifei was favored by the eight century Emperor Xuanzong, to such a degree that he severely neglected his affairs of state. Eventually, a rebellion occurred in which the fragile concubine was killed by uproarious soldiers.

Her tragic fate was eternalized by the poet Bai Juyi in the Song of Everlasting Grief. The present statue is said to have been made on behest of the grieving emperor after the death of Yang Guifei in her image. It was brought to Japan in the middle of the thirteenth century.

[Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto]

The statue is indeed very beautiful, but we have reservations about the link with Yang Guifei. Although we love the story, Yang Guifei seems too much of flesh and blood, too much a creature of this earth, to be a Kannon. She was burned by her passions and died because of her attachment to love. There is nothing Buddhist in her life.

The Song of Everlasting Grief was very popular in pre-modern Japan (every educated person new the poem by heart) and a cunning priest may have made up the link in order to enhance the status of his temple. Again, that does not matter. Just like the statues and paintings in the Buddha Hall, this statue has enough grace of its own to captivate us.

On top of that, the Kannon works wonders for us. Already twice, wishes uttered before the statue, have been fulfilled and now we have come with a third supplication. We look up at the seated statue.

The Kannon, carrying a lotus flower with a long stem in her hands, smiles down on us with compassion, and yes, we know that this time too our prayer will be heard.

Address: 27 Sennyu-ji Yamauchi-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Tel. 075-561-1551

Access: From Kyoto Station by bus 208 to Sennyu-ji-michi, then a walk of 10 min. Or take the JR or Keihan Line to Tofuku-ji Station and walk 20 min. along Higashioji Street.

Hours: 9:00-16:30, in winter 16:00. The Gozasho is only occasionally open.

In the same area: Together with its many subtemples, Sennyu-ji can keep you occupied for half a day; if you add nearby Tofukuji you have a full-day program. First visit Sennyu-ji, starting with the Kannon Hall, then working your way down its grounds; finally, use the back exit that brings you to the subtemple Raigo-in in shaded grounds (with many gods of good fortune). Follow the gravel path to Sennyu-ji’s Daimon and cross the parking lot to Unryu-in (200 yen, 9:00-17:00, 541-3916), which has a great Yakushi Buddha. Following the tarmac road back the way you originally came, you pass Imakumano Kannonji on your right, one of the temples of the Kannon Pilgrimage Route of Western Japan. Return to the original road leading to Kaiko-ji (there is also another way out of Kannonji), and visit the ten meter tall Shaka image. Finally, you can drop by in Sokujo-in (561-3443) to see its Amida statue. For Tofukuji, return to the station area. Visit the Hojo gardens (300 yen, 9:00-16:00, 561-0087); the Kaisando and its wonderful covered bridge Tsutenkyo (9:00-16:00, 300 yen); do not miss seeing the Sanmon gate and the Tosu, the old bathrooms (these can not be entered, but you can peep inside); and round off with Sesshu-ji (Funda-in, 9:00-17:00, 300 yen), and its intimate little garden ascribed to the ink painter Sesshu.

Festival: Sennyuji and its subtemples have an engaging circuit of the “Seven Deities of Good Fortune,” held on the “Seijin no Hi” holiday in January (Jan. 14 in 2008).