Moto-Hakone Stone Buddhas

Moto-Hakone Stone Buddhas (元箱根石仏群, Moto-Hakone sekibutsu) is a grouping of stone sculptures and associated tō (pagodas), dating from the late Kamakura period and located in the former village of Moto-Hakone, now merged into the town of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The area has been designated an Historic Site and includes a number of Important Cultural Properties.[1][2]

Moto-Hakone Stone Buddhas
Rokudō Jizō; photograph by Adolfo Farsari

Location

The stone Buddhas are located within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, near Shōjin pond (精進池) in the valley between Mount Futago (二子山) (1091 m) and Mount Kami (神山) (1438 m).[3] They are situated a little to the north of the old Tōkaidō; the modern Japan National Route 1 cuts the site into two.[3][4] Kamakura-period travellers and the poet Asukai Masaari likened the area to Hell; consequently the site became popular for dedications to Jizō Bosatsu.[5]

Description

The stone sculptures comprise a 3.5 m seated Rokudō Jizō of 1300 (ICP); three Hitaki Jizō of 1311 (ICP), of which one measures 1.24 m and the other two are smaller; and twenty-five bosatsu (ICP), a group of twenty-six sculptures split into two by the road, of which twenty-four have been identified as Jizō and the twenty-sixth as Amida Nyorai, which measure between twenty centimetres and one metre, and which date between 1293 and 1313.[6][7][8][9]

In addition to the stone sculptures there are in the vicinity a number of stone tō.[6] Two gorintō date to the late Kamakura period and are known as the graves of the Soga Brothers;[6][10][11] A third, with an inscription dating it to the twelfth month of Einin 3 (1295), marks the grave of Tora Gozen (虎御前).[6][12] There are also two hōkyōintō, one (ICP) inscribed the fifth month of Einin 4 (1296) and the eighth month of Shōan 2 (1300), and popularly known as the grave of Minamoto no Mitsunaka; and the second dating to Kannō 1 (1350) and known as the grave of the Happyaku Bikuni.[6][13][14]

See also

References
  1. 箱根の石仏群について [About the Stone Buddhas of Hakone] (in Japanese). Hakone Town. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  2. 元箱根石仏群 [Moto-Hakone Stone Buddhas] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  3. "Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park: Area 1" (PDF). Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  4. "周辺の案内図" [Map of the Vicinity]. Hakone Town. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  5. 箱根の石仏群の成り立ち [Components of the Hakone Stone Buddha Group] (in Japanese). Hakone Town. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  6. 各石仏・石塔の保存整備 [Maintenance of the Buddhas and Tō] (in Japanese). Hakone Town. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  7. 元箱根磨崖仏 [Moto-Hakone magaibutsu] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  8. 地藏菩薩立像 [Jizō Bosatsu] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  9. 元箱根磨崖仏 [Moto-Hakone magaibutsu] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  10. 五輪塔 [Gorintō] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  11. 五輪塔 [Gorintō] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  12. 五輪塔 [Gorintō] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  13. 宝篋印塔 [Hōkyōintō] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  14. 箱根の文化財一覧 [List of the Cultural Properties of Hakone] (in Japanese). Hakone Town. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2012.

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