Kubote means wanting religious disposition
to enlighten.Opened in 1969. The most noted
place is this museum in Buzen. The national
treasure Doban-kyo(the sutras engraved in
33 copperplates in 1142), various wooden
and stone statues, old manuscripts, and utensils
are on display here. Open except Monday
The most noted place in Buzen is this museum,
which opened in 1974. Japanese
religions started from mountain beliefs‡@.
Artifacts remaining from those mountain beliefs
throughout the Heian, Kamakura,
Muromachi, and Edo periods(9th to 19th century),
are on display in this
museum.
The characteristics of this museum stem from
mountain beliefs, in particular
Shugendo‡A. Here in this museum, mostly materials
discovered around Mt.Kubote(782m
in height) are on display.
The main displays are of National Treasures,
Copperplates Hoke-Kyo‡B artifacts
carrying important cultural value, statues
of Gods and Buddhas, Buddhist
ritual implements, fete implements, archives
and daily utensils used by
Yamabushi‡C. We call Yamabushi the originators
of Ninjya. We have arranged
it so that visitors can easily understand
mountain beliefs at a glance.
Kubote means wanting religions disposition
to enlighten.
According to the origin of Kubote, a priest
named Mokakuma-Bokusen opened
Mt.Kubote in 525 A.D. At the end of the Heian
period, Raigen-Shonin started
to make Copperplates Hoke-Kyo to repose the
souls of the dead.
At that time a feeling that Buddhism was
becoming helpless, was spreading all over
Japan.
It was a time of turmoil, and of great rivalry
between powerful lords. So Copperplates were
engraved, and become the equivalent to our
modern-day time capsules.
At the back of the upper shrine there are
scores of massive stones. Vapor pours out
from between the stones constantly throughout
the year. It does not freeze, even in winter.
The vapor resembles that of a dragon's breath,
and is thus known as "Tatsu-no-kuchi"or
"The Dragaon's Mouth".
It is said that Dainichi-Nyorai(The Great
Sun Buddha) was borne from here.
Dainichi-Nyorai is the principal image in
Mikkyo‡D.
.
Nearly 100 Buddha statues were found around
Mt.Kubote.
In Shugendo, they deified Buddha and Shinto
statues, but they themselves
become symbolic Tengu‡E by acquiring supernatural
powers and wings to fly.
There are other mustsee places like Stirrups
of Oni‡F and Misogi-Ba‡G at
Mt.Kubote. God was considered a temporary
figure of Buddha, so they were
deified together by the thought of Honji-Suijyaku‡H
for over 1000 years
until the Meiji Restoration.
In the late 1860s, the government gave two
orders announcing that Buddhas throughout
the country were to be destroyed. One order
was the Separation of Shinto and Buddhism‡I
in 1869, the other was Haibutsu-Kishaku‡J
in 1872.
Many important works of art and documents
in cultural history were burnt to ashes,
and the heads of stone Buddhas were also
cut off.
To this day the headless stone Buddhas still
remain by the mountain path,
silently telling the story of the helpless
age of Buddhism.
‡@Mountain beliefs began as a form of nature worship, centered around mountains.
The belief that spirits and gods lived mountains gradually formed.
A type of religion called Shugendo evolved, the goal of which was to develop
supernatural powers through mountain asceticism.
‡AA religious order that prescribes ascetic
practices in mountains to attain holy or
magic powers beneficial to the community.
Its members are known as Yamabushi.
En-No-Gyojya(or En-No-Ozunu) is considered to be the founder of Shugendo.
He was a semi-legendary sorcerer of the late 7th century.
‡BThose Copperplates Hoke-Kyo were found
in one of the Kutsus(caves). Kutsu was the
place for reading and training, for priests.
Once there were said to be nearly 100 Kutsus
in Mt.Kubote.
Five of them are noted. Copperplates consist of 33 engraved with 8 scrolls
of Hoke-Kyo and Hannya-Shinkyo. Hoke-Kyo is the abbreviation of Nyo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo.
Hannya-Shinkyo is the essence of the sutras,
a body of scripts written during the early
developmental stages of Buddhism that expounds
the doctrine of emptiness.
The Heart Sutra(Hannya-Shinkyo) remains one of the most popular Buddhist
scriptures in Japan.
Only one remains in perfect condition in Japan now. There are 70,460 characters
in all. The container is called Do-Bako(copper box), is engraved with Buddha
statues on all four sides and is plated with gold at the four corners.
The bottom of this box has Koji Gannen(1142 A.D.) engraved on it.
‡CYamabushi literally means one who lies
in the mountains. The name given during the
Heian period(1142 A.D.) to ascetics, usually
men, who practiced austerities in the mountains
in order to attain holy or magic powers.
It was later applied to the members of the Shugendo order.
‡DMikkyo Esoteric Buddhism, literally the secret teaching. Mikkyo was brought
from China to Japan by Kukai, whose teachings form the basis of the Shingon
sect.
‡EUncanny and ambivalent creature in Japanese folklore with long beaks,
wings, glittering eyes, and a man's body, arms, and legs.
A variant form, sometimes credited with higher rank, has a long nose, white
hair, a red face and carries a feather fan.
‡FHorned, ferocious, scarlet-faced figure usually equated in folktales,
proverbs, and common parlance with a demon or ogre.
‡GThe Shinto rite of ablution. The word Misogi
refers to the ritual cleansing of the body
with water to remove both physical and spiritual
defilements.
‡HThe theory that the native Shinto deities
are Japanese incarnations of manifestations
of Indian Buddhist divinities who are their
original and eternal prototypes.
‡IThe Meiji government(1868-1912) policy of the separation Shinto and Buddhism
in order to reinforce the Shinto based divine status of the Emperor.
‡JLiterally means abolish the Buddha;destroy Shakyamuni(founder of Buddhism).
Refers to the movement to abolish Buddhism
beginning in the Tokugawa Shogunate(1603-1867)
and culminating in the early Meiji period.
The policy of the early Meiji government
was to promote Shinto as the state religion,
and in 1868 the complete removal of Buddhist
influence from Shinto shrines was decreed.