Fukoji temple Magaibutsu (Buddha)　普光寺磨崖仏

March 28, 2024

The morning in Michi no eki Harajiri no taki is grey and overcast. Only the swallows are energetic, swooping and weaving in and out of the overhanging roofs and skimming the car park, oblivious to the various devices set to deter them. We take another gentle tiptoe though the tulips and down to the Harajiri waterfall. Here are Oriental Greenfinches, wagtails, and dippers.

Fukoji Temple

The intermittent drizzle becomes more insistent, and we leave for Fukoji temple to view a large Buddha carved into the rock face. This takes us on an interesting drive mostly along narrow, winding roads strewn with dead sugi foliage.

Arriving at Fukoji temple there are three car parks at the top of a hill, all deserted. From the car park, we walk past a few derelict houses down a steep slope to a small temple. Here there is a small temple gate and a bell you can ring resulting in very pleasing reverberations. The gate also houses some delicate pictures of sages? Lightly carved into the wood.

Magaibutsu

Across a narrow valley from the temple, scored into the rock face is a large Fudo Buddha and two shallow caves of Douji. This magaibutsu Buddha is one of biggest at 11.3m in hight. The main figure is reputed to be 800 years old and is consequently eroded. It is curved in the pyroclastic flow of the third eruption of Mt. Aso about 120,000 years ago.

Various other lesser figures adorn the first cave and the second houses a small wooden building behind which there is another figure Tamonten (one of four heavenly kings) and Benzaiten carved in the rock face.

Even in the persistent rain this site is worth visiting but we were lucky to be alone. As we linger, more people arrive. The temple is also famous for Ajisai (hydrangea).

Oita Prefectural Museum

Leaving Fuko-ji in increasingly insistent rain, we opt to drive to Oita and check the municipal museum. For this, route 442,  from Okawa, Fukuoka to Oita city across Kyushu, provides a far more interesting drive than the highway.

The museum has no special exhibition, but we only intend to view the permanent works. This sometimes produces surprising discoveries but in Oita only a few pieces appeal.

＊Oita Prefectural Museum ; 300 yen / adult

The weather forces us to decide and wimping out check into a hotel.