Shosha-zan (Engyō-ji) from the Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces

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Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Shosha-zan (Engyō-ji, temple 27)

from the Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces

by Nakazawa Hiromitsu, 1925

Illustrated Account of the Sino-Japanese War, Volume 7

IHL Cat. #2316

IHL Cat. #2413.35

(from the complete 1925 album of prints IHL Cat. #2413)

About This Print

Sources: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engy%C5%8D-ji and the website of Shoshazan Engyoju http://www.shosha.or.jp/_en/

Nakazawa does not show the temple grounds, only two pilgrims working their way up the steep trail to the top of 1200 foot high Mount Shosha and its beautiful backdrop of the Yumesaki River flowing into the Inland Sea. In 1925, the city of Himeji (see below photo) had a population of over 85,000 yet Nakazawa ignores any sign of the city to intensify this scene's serenity.

On December 1923, only a few months after the Great Kantō Earthquake devastated the Tokyo area, Nakazawa along with his two friends, the poet Ishikura Suiyō and the artist Akatsuka Chūichi, began their pilgrimage to the thirty-three temples comprising the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, taking seventy-eight days to complete the route.

For more information on their pilgrimage see the article Nakazawa Hiromitsu - Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces.

View today looking over Himeji and the Inland Sea,

with the Mount Shosha Ropeway making its way up the mountain.

The Temple

Source: https://jref.com/articles/engyo-ji-temple.289/

Founded in 966 by the Buddhist priest Tokudo-shonin (656-735), Shoshazan Engyō-ji is located on the top of Mount Shosha in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture and is the twenty-seventh temple on the Saigoku Pilgrimage route. The summit is reached either by hiking trail or aerial tram (Mount Shosha Ropeway).

Within the temple's mountaintop precincts are eight buildings and seven Buddhist statues appointed as “Important Cultural Properties” and the location is featured in the movie “The Last Samurai”.

The main enshrined image (honzon) of the temple is the bodhisattva Kannon Nyoirin.

The go-eika, or temple song/prayer, of Shoshazan Engyō-ji is:

Harubaru-to nobore-ba shosha-no Yamaoroshi, matsu-no hibiki-mo minori-naruran

(We climbed to the summit of Mt. Shosha as a strong wind blew down from the peak. The pines whispered as they swayed in the breeze. For us even this sound is a teaching from the Buddha.)

The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei)

Japan's most famous pilgrimage, originating in the 11th century, encompasses 33 Buddhist temples in Western Japan (Kansai region) dedicated to Kannon (bodhisattva Avalokitasvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who hears the cries of the world and assists anyone in distress.

The 33 temples on the approximately 1,000 kilometer pilgrimage route correspond to Kannon's ability to take on 33 different forms. One hundred thousand pilgrims navigate the route in its entirety or part each year.

Note: For a listing of all 33 temples go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigoku_Kannon_Pilgrimage. To access an interactive map of the route and its temples go to https://www.thetempleguy.org/p/saigoku-33-kannon-route.html and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

About the "Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces"

First issued in 1925 and reprinted in 1946, the 1925 album contains 58 prints and the 1946 album 59 prints. For detailed discussion of the two editions and additional information on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage see this site's article Nakazawa Hiromitsu - Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces.