Ep. 097: Stone Mountain Temple
Ishiyama-dera, a short walk outside of Kyoto
I have been twice to beautiful Ishiyama-dera, Shiga Prefecture's "Stone Mountain Temple." Learn about both visits in this episode of--
TEMPLE TALES!
The first time I saw Ishiyama-dera was in November of 2000, on the second day of a two-day visit to the area to see four of the 33 Kannon temples of Kansai, the Saigoku Sanjusan Reijo. This one was number 13 of that pilgrimage.
Wollastonite puts the "stone" in "Stone Mountain." This is the "Cave of Ishiyama-dera."
The second visit was more extreme: I walked there from Tokyo, nearly 300 miles to the north! Actually, I was walking to Kyoto on the then-400-year-old Tokaido Highway (I spoke briefly of this in Episode 036), but since Ishiyama-dera was near the route, I thought, "Why not?" That was on October 8, 2001, nearly a year later.
To avoid burying you in unnecessary details, I will generally combine words and pictures, treating both visits as one.
Some History--and Legend
Roben (or Ryoben) (Wikipedia)
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The temple was founded by one Roben (or Ryoben, 689-773) in 747, by order of Emperor Shomu (reigned 724-749). It was this Roben who in 728 founded Todai-ji (then called Kinshosen-ji), later to be the home of Nara's Big Buddha (see Episode 089), for the same emperor.
One story of the temple's founding is this: Shomu instructed Roben to find gold for the construction of the Great Buddha of Nara. Praying in Yoshino (a site of mountain ascetic practice), Roben was instructed by the local god to go to the future site of Ishiyama-dera, taking with him a statue of Kannon that once belonged to Prince Shotoku (574-622), one of Buddhism's founders and primary patrons in Japan. There, another vision instructed him that the needed gold would be found in Tohoku (northeastern Japan). After informing the emperor of this fact, and having the truth of it confirmed by the emperor's minions, Roben planned to move on--but the Kannon statue refused to budge! Roben decided to build a temple for it on the spot. And that became Ishiyama-dera.