Byodoin and Bodhisattvas on Clouds

Our final visit to a World Heritage Site during our first family trip to Japan was to the town of Uji and the Byodoin temple. (We don’t think we’re quite ready to drive in Japan. The roads are extremely narrow and most signage is, to us, unreadable.) There are a number of compelling reasons for visiting Byodoin. In its modern underground Treasure House are some magnificent National Treasures. The most interesting (among many interesting treasures) were the Worshipping Bodhisattvas on Clouds. In Pure Land Buddhism, Bodhisattvas help in attaining buddhahood or perfect enlightenment. The 52 Worshipping Bodhisattvas on Clouds are the only surviving group of Buddhist statues from the 11th century. About half of them are playing a variety of musical instruments. Copies are being sculpted of them so that they may be touched by the faithful and fulfill their mission of allowing people to create a connection with the divine. Another reason to visit Uji is to see the building that graces the 10 yen coin, the Phoenix Hall at Byodoin.

Ensuring a return visit, Phoenix Hall was shrouded during renovation work. One of the things that makes Phoenix Hall unique is that it is a rarity among important wooden buildings in Japan: it has never been destroyed by fire since its construction in 1053.
This was the closest we could get to seeing part of the structure of Phoenix Hall, a peak past the shrouding cloth.
Maybe we’ll return in springtime to see the wisteria.
One of the recurring motifs in religious art in Japan is the image of two lions, one with mouth open and the other with mouth closed. This represents the beginning and end of all time, asking us to think of what lies between those two lions and the interconnectedness of all things (engi).