A Thousand Rakan Statues at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple in Kyoto

The Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple in Kyoto is an off the beaten track temple located in Arashiyama, Kyoto. More than a thousand stone rakan statues populate the temple ground at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple. Being moss-covered, the stone statues create an ambience that is faintly eerie, but the unique facial expressions on the statues convey a quirky sense of comical cheerfulness at once. The very original of the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple was established near the Gion District in the Higashiyama area by the order of Emperor Shotoku in 766 A.D. That temple was destroyed by the flood of the Kamogawa River during the early Heian period. Thus began the seemingly “bad luck” that struck this temple throughout its history. By the 20th century, the temple has come to stand for resilience. In those long years past, the temple fell victim to fires and neglect. There were only three structures still standing in the temple, namely the main hall, the Jizo Hall, and the temple gate. In 1922, there was effort to move these structures to the current site in Arashiyama, and the temple started anew. Yet again, in the 1950s, a typhoon damaged the temple. Finally, in 1981, the temple underwent a major restoration led by Kocho Nishimura. He was a craftsman for Buddhist statues before becoming a monk himself. The restoration effort took a good ten years, during which time structures were taken apart, rebuilt, renovated and restored. This was also the time needed for the temple to offer sculpting pilgrimage for the followers. The army of 1,200 rakan statuettes was the work of many followers over this decade of time in the 1980s. Kocho Nishimura’s innovative initiative to combine art and religion was very much reflective of his own journey of faith. Rakans are the followers of Buddha. The statuettes in the temple were created by the common people. In this creative process, the followers of Buddha essentially invested in their artwork some of their own humanity. Surely, there were many statuettes wearing somber expressions, but some were reading, some were marveling, and some were laughing as well. In the back of these statuettes the sculptor carved his or her own names. #kyototrip #otaginenbutsutemple #rakanstatues #templetour #buddhism #buddhisttemple #arashiyama #japan #trip