Drive to Horaiji (3) - Prohibition of hunting and fishing

Horaiji Temple is a Buddhist temple founded in 703. A famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho visited there in 1691, and we saw his statue with an owl on his head while we were walking further after lunch. He looked humorous. My mother, who started to learn haiku a week ago, put a coin on the statue. In addition to the animals in the picture, there was also a frog. I remembered his haiku “The ancient pond / A frog leaps in / The sound of the water (translated by Donald Keene).”

Near the statue of Matsuo Basho, there was an old road, which led to Akiha Shrine in Haruno-cho in Hamamatsu, 34 km away from there. The shrine was founded in 709 and enshrines the god of fire. In old days, people in the Horaiji area used to visit there along this road to pray for protection from fire because their houses with thatched roof were easy to catch fire and burn. Ahiha Shrine had many visitors not only from eastern Aichi Prefecture including Horaiji but also from western Shizuoka Prefecture, and southern Nagano Prefecture.

As we continued walking along the pathway to Horaiji Temple, I found some interesting things. But I just took a picture of this beautiful tree because it rained sometimes.

Finally, we arrived at the entrance of the premises of Horaiji Temple. To reach the main building, you have to climb as many as 1,425 steps (1 km), and we didn’t do that.

On the other side of the road, there was a monument with “殺生禁断 (sessyo kindan)” carved  on the stone. It means prohibition of hunting and fishing based on the Buddhist teachings, which is in force on the premises of this temple. Though this is a very basic rule in Buddhism, I had never seen a temple that expressively prohibited people from killing animals before. On the contrary, some big temples even allow stalls to sell snacks containing meat or fish on their premises during festivals. So, this monument was very impressive.

On our way back to the parking area, the weather became better. So, I started taking pictures. This is a magnolia tree.

A place with a beautiful scenery. I learned later it was a hotel Unryuso (雲竜荘).

I took this picture after passing by this house. It’s an old inkstone shop.

Blue sky, green mountains, cherry blossoms,

and a beatiful tree again.

Even in the parking area, there were narcissus with vivid colors. Horaiji had so many flowers!