昨日は幸いにも日差しもあり、午後の飛鳥散策が満喫できた。ルートは甘樫丘から飛鳥寺、酒船石を経て石舞台まで。ここ大和の風景は時が進むでもなくゆったりとして心地よい。そしてどこも整備が行き届いていたのには驚いた。昔は石舞台など周りに何もなく勝手に行けたが、今ではしっかり入場料が徴収される。今回はのんびり歩いたが、飛鳥はレンタサイクルで回るのが一番だと思う。宿は利便性から橿原神宮駅前のロイヤルホテルを拠点にした。するとそこには温泉大浴場があって、旅の疲れを癒せることがなにしろうれしい。さらに浴場入口にマッサージコーナーがあって、そこの韓国系のおばさんが素晴らしい腕前だったことも付記しておこう。
桜井の聖林寺には月曜の朝出掛けた。バスの時間はかなり先なので、行きはタクシーに乗って1180円。2名以上のグループなら、タクシーは悪くないだろう。車を降りると、少し坂を登ったところにこぢんまりとしてとても趣のある山門が見えてくる。周囲は里山らしい風景で懐かしさを覚える。本堂の縁側からはこの素晴らしい眺めが一望できる。本尊は地蔵菩薩で、民衆信仰と仏教の融合されたその雰囲気が何とも親しみ深い。さて目的の十一面観音はさらに階段を上った観音堂に収められていて、その姿は感動的なほどの造形美と思う。なぜ天平期の彫刻に惹かれるのかは自分でも判らないが、フェノロサが世に知らしめたこの仏像の見事さは類い稀なものだと思う。帰路は歩くことにしたが、寺を出た頃からまた雨が降り始めたので、安倍文殊院を足早に見て駅に戻った。
Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, I am visiting since yesterday to execute two subjects I conceived when I traveled to Murouji Temple last fall: They are Eleven-faced Goddess of Mercy for one and cherry blossoms in Yoshino for the other. The schedule was matched with sakura but the special display of Goddess at Hokkeji and Kairyuoji in Nara ended last week unfortunately. This time, only Shorinji is covered, and instead, I added a walk of Kumano camino of pilgrimage after Yoshimo. I will take a 3-hour bus ride to Totsugawa Village down south from where a day of some 10km randonnée to Kumano Shrine Hongu.
We were very lucky yesterday having some sunshine and comfortable walk in the afternoon in Asuka. The routing we chose was from Amakashi Hill to Ishibutai Tumulus via Asuka Temple and Sakafuneishi. Time passes slowly in the landscape of Yamato. And what amazed us was the fact that every spot was cleanly serviced. In contrast, many years ago for example, Ishibutai was openly deserted and everyone could freely visit there, and now we pay the admission to watch stones. We enjoyed slow, relaxed walk, but Asuka would be best to visit using rental bicycles. We actually stayed at Royal Hotel in front of Kashihara Jingu Station for convenience, and very much delighted to find that they had hotspring public baths as we could release the fatigue in the hot pool. And one thing I should note is that there was a massage spot at the entrance of the bath where the Korean female masseuse had an outstanding skill.
Monday morning, we visited Shorinji in Sakurai. Because the bus was scarce, we took a taxi for 1180 Yen. It would not be a bad idea especially you travel in a group. Getting off the taxi, we walked uphill a little and saw a rather compact but tasteful temple’s gate. The surrounding is an old and lovely country village, and you can view this whole landscape from the small wooden veranda of the temple. The god that sit in this temple was Jizo-Bosatsu, a blend of people's local religion and Buddhism, and it reveals in the style, which we found interesting.
Our main subject, the Eleven-faced Goddess was kept in a separate Kannon Pavilion upstares, and indeed her form of beauty was truly heart-touching. I cannot explain why I am trapped by the engravings of Tenpyo Era so much, but this particular statue of Kannon is a rarity of beauty as Ernest Fenollosa discovered.
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