Temple 4 - Dainichiji

The first five temples are quite achievable in one day, being maybe 15 km apart, including walking to and from transportation back to Tokushima. Even so, we see less pilgrims on the road than earlier - perhaps the big groups call it a day after 3. Pilgrim etiquette requires walking staffs to be cleaned and then stored while its owner is at the temple in question, and inevitably at the end of the day there are forgotten sticks left behind. 

Along the way we see many little statues and shrines by the said of a path or road. Are they there because of a fatality, as roadside shrines of a nature are installed at home? Or are they there for another reason? I was told that they are small because they are honouring small children who have died - the statue is of Ojizo-sama, a guardian diety of children. Many of the statues have little red bibs attached. This, I was told by the same person, is put on by the parents of the dead child to protect them in the afterlife. If true it is sad, but endearing as well.

The statues are also referred to as Jizo, the guardian of travelers and the weak, such as children.The colour red signifies expelling both demons and illness, so the little red hats on statues is also protection against evil forces (sickness). The power of the colour red seems to have come from the time of smallpox, a scourge of life if there ever was one. If the ill person’s skin turned purple, it was considered serious. But if the skin turned red, it was believed the patient would recover. Japanese parents recommended that children with smallpox be clothed in red garments and that those caring for the sick also wear red, with red embodying both life-creating and life-sustaining powers. As a result, the color red was dedicated not only to deities of sickness and demon quelling, but also to deities of healing, fertility, and childbirth. 

Dainichiji was in the cleft of a hill, and resplendent with cherry blossom, including one tree with pink, white, and almost red blossom. The main gate was being restored, which is par for the course for this temple as it has been reconstructed and repaired its entire history, based on eras of use or disuse. Glad to see it is back to being used.