Erinji is the family temple of the Takeda clan. Its Kuri and Hojo architecture are as splendid as Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto. The garden was also designed in early Muromachi period by the same Muso Soseki, who was a Zen monk as well as a gardener, and his garden is registered as a World Heritage Site. There are also pine trees planted everywhere, all of which are carefully pruned.
Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto is famous for the warbler corridor that makes noise when you walk on it, no matter how careful you are, but this temple also has one. Even the “stealth walk” of ninjas who were tasked with being assassins or spies would make an extra loud noise on the corridor, so it was said to be an effective countermeasure at the time, everywhere in Japan was in war. It made a screeching sound that sounded more like a metallic sound than the chirping of a warbler. Please compare the sound of warbler corridor with the original one.
Original sound of a warbler crossing the valley as below
The sound of a warbler corridor
Beyond the corridor is Fudo Myoo, which was created by copying Shingen’s face while he was still alive. Even though it’s a copy, it’s Fudo Myoo, so I think all Fudo Myoos look the same.
Speaking of Takeda Shingen, the phrase “Fu-rin-ka-zan (wind-forest-fire-mountain)” is famous, and it is a four-character idiom that is an abbreviation of a phrase written in the ancient Chinese military art book “Sun Tzu.” This means that an army moves as fast as the wind, stays as calm as a forest, attacks enemy territory as fiercely as fire, and defends as solidly and unmoving as a mountain, and these represent the ideal form of military behavior. It is known that Takeda Shingen, a military commander during the Sengoku period, wrote it in large letters on his military flag and used it as his flag seal. It can be said that this choice was unique to Shingen, who was a well-educated man well versed in Chinese poetry and the military tactics of Sun Tzu.
”If you clear your mind, you feel the fire will naturally cool down.”
I thought these were also Shingen’s words, but after the fall of the Takeda clan, this was the last words the priest said to the monks who had holed up at the Sanmon gate of Erinji Temple, which had been set on fire by Nobunaga Oda’s army. It was only when I came here that I realized that it was a word.
Before going to Kori, let’s look up under the eaves of Kaizando. Here is a wooden carved version of the famous paint “Fujin-Raijin”(Wind God and Thunder God) at Ken-ninji Temple in Kyoto.
