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/
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).
Eight buildings and seven Buddhist statues are appointed as “Important Cultural Properties” and the location is featured in the movie “The Last Samurai”.
Nakazawa does not show the temple grounds, only two pilgrims working their way up the steep trail to the top of 1200' high Mount Shosha and the beautiful backdrop of the Yumesaki River flowing into the Inland Sea. In 1925, the city of Himeji (seen sprawling in the below photo) had a population of over 85,000 yet Nakazawa ignores any sign of the sprawling city to intensify this scene's serenity.
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.)
View today looking over Himeji and the Inland Sea, with the Mount Shosha Ropeway making its way up the mountain.
The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei)
Sources: website of cultural anthropologist Martin Gray http://www.taleofgenji.org/saigoku_pilgrimage.html and "Buddhist Pilgrim/Buddhist Exile: Old and New Images of Retired Emperor Kazan in the Saigoku Kannon Temple Guidebooks," Mark MacWilliams, appearing in History of Religions, May, 1995, Vol. 34, No. 4, The University of Chicago Press, p. 303-328.
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.
click on the image to go to the article
Print Details
IHL Catalog
#2316
Title or Description
Shosha-zan (Engyō-ji, temple 27)
書写山 (円教寺、二十七)
Series
Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces
西国三十三所巡礼画巻 Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei gakan
Artist
Nakazawa Hiromitsu (1874-1964)
Signature
中澤弘光 [Nakazawa Hiromitsu] printed in lower right margin as shown left
Seal of the artist
弘 Hiro
Publication Date
June 15, 1925 大正十四年六月十五日発行 舞鶴要塞可令部検閲済 [As printed in the right margin of this collection's 1925 print Matsunoo-dera IHL Cat. #2245, the only print in the album that carries a date. The date is followed by an inscription indicating the print was inspected and approved by the authorities at the Maizuru Fort Headquarters, 舞鶴要塞可令部検閲済 (Maizuru Fort Headquarters Inspection Approval). Note that the date of publication on the colophon accompanying the complete 1925 album is September 28, 1925 大正十四年九月十八日発行.]
Publisher
發行者 金尾種次郎 publisher Kanao Tanejirō
發兌元 金尾文淵堂 publishing house Kanao Bun'endō
文淵堂版 [Bun'endō han] printed in lower right margin as shown left
Carver
Okada Seijirō 岡田清次郎 and Ōkura Fujitarō (Ōkura Tōtarō?) 大倉藤太郎
Note on carvers: the above information is taken from the detailed information in the ADEAC system for the 1925 release. While the printer Okada is well known, the second listed printer 大倉藤太郎 is not and I can find no information on him.
Printer
Nishimura Kumakichi 西村熊吉 and Yamagata Hidesuki? 山県秀助
Impression
excellent
Colors
excellent
Condition
good - 3" vertical paper fold right center of print, likely caused in printing process
Genre
shin hanga; shasei kikō (sketch-tour)
Miscellaneous
temple/print number 27 appearing in the right margin of the 1925 release
Format
horizontal oban
H x W Paper
10 1/8 x 15 5/16 in. (25.7 x 38.9 cm)
H x W Image
8 1/2 x 11 9/16 in. (21.6 x 29.4 cm)
Literature
Collections This Print
National Diet Library Call Number 寄別7-8-2-5 (1925 album, no images displayed); National Library Board, Singapore BRN:9854371 (entire 1946 album, no images shown); British Library System number: 017018582 (entire 1946 album, no images shown); Harvard Yenching Library HOLLIS number 990082993710203941 (1925 album, no images displayed)
| IHL Catalog |
#2316 |
| Title or Description | Shosha-zan (Engyō-ji, temple 27) 書写山 (円教寺、二十七) |
| Series | Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces 西国三十三所巡礼画巻 Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei gakan |
| Artist | Nakazawa Hiromitsu (1874-1964) |
| Signature |
|
| Seal of the artist |
|
| Publication Date | June 15, 1925 大正十四年六月十五日発行 舞鶴要塞可令部検閲済 [As printed in the right margin of this collection's 1925 print Matsunoo-dera IHL Cat. #2245, the only print in the album that carries a date. The date is followed by an inscription indicating the print was inspected and approved by the authorities at the Maizuru Fort Headquarters, 舞鶴要塞可令部検閲済 (Maizuru Fort Headquarters Inspection Approval). Note that the date of publication on the colophon accompanying the complete 1925 album is September 28, 1925 大正十四年九月十八日発行.] |
| Publisher | 發行者 金尾種次郎 publisher Kanao Tanejirō 發兌元 金尾文淵堂 publishing house Kanao Bun'endō |
| Carver | Okada Seijirō 岡田清次郎 and Ōkura Fujitarō (Ōkura Tōtarō?) 大倉藤太郎 Note on carvers: the above information is taken from the detailed information in the ADEAC system for the 1925 release. While the printer Okada is well known, the second listed printer 大倉藤太郎 is not and I can find no information on him. |
| Printer | Nishimura Kumakichi 西村熊吉 and Yamagata Hidesuki? 山県秀助 |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - 3" vertical paper fold right center of print, likely caused in printing process |
| Genre | shin hanga; shasei kikō (sketch-tour) |
| Miscellaneous | temple/print number 27 appearing in the right margin of the 1925 release |
| Format | horizontal oban |
| H x W Paper |
10 1/8 x 15 5/16 in. (25.7 x 38.9 cm) |
| H x W Image |
8 1/2 x 11 9/16 in. (21.6 x 29.4 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print |
National Diet Library Call Number 寄別7-8-2-5 (1925 album, no images displayed); National Library Board, Singapore BRN:9854371 (entire 1946 album, no images shown); British Library System number: 017018582 (entire 1946 album, no images shown); Harvard Yenching Library HOLLIS number 990082993710203941 (1925 album, no images displayed) |
last revision:
12/20/2020
7/3/2020 created
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