Dear O-Henro ... Haijin, visitors and travelers,
I am in the nightshift, so I can catch up a little. My dad is still in hospital, but will be this weekend released from the hospital. So we are glad that he his starting to recover, however it goes slowly, but he also is glad that he can go home, because at home (Home Sweet Home) he can recover further. Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my dad and our family. Your prayers are very appreciated by my dad, my mum and myself.
one heartbeat away
I feel the strenght of prayers
send by my haiku-family
(c) Chèvrefeuille
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| Kongofuku-ji (Temple 38) |
We are going on with our pilgrimage along the 88 temples on Shikoku Island and today we arrive at temple 38, Kongofuku-ji, which is devoted to Senju Kannon or the Boddhisatva of Motherly Love and Mother of the World. She has similarities with Mother Mary the Virgin and in the Edo Period (1663-1867) as Christianity was forbidden and was punishable with death. However Japanese Christians in that time were very clever and disguised The Virgin Mother Mary as Senju Kannon.
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| Maria Kannon (The Virgin Mary diguised as Senju Kannon) |
In that Edo Period al lot of Christians died because of their religion and they were forced to go underground and if they were found and persecuted they could win back their life by trampling on an image of the Christ of The Virgin Mary (Fumi-e) and if they didn't they were tortured 'til death followed. These underground Christians were called Kakure Kirishitans.
Fumi-e (a floorstone with an image of Jesus Christ or The Virgin Mary on which the Japanese Christians had to trample to regain their life)
trampling His face
to save their own life -
a broken rose
a broken rose
on the floor in front of Him;
the sound of raindrops
(c) Chèvrefeuille
Not a strong set I think, but they give a well formed imagery of what I described in the above post. This episode of Carpe Diem is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 1st 11.59 AM (CET). I will post our last episode of this first part of our Shikoku Pilgrimage in which we will be visiting Temple 39, Enko-ji, at Sukumo, Kochi Prefecture. The last temple in Kochi Prefecture. With this new episode we have reached our first goal ... 44 temples visited and on our way to Enlightenment.
Interesting history....was not familiar with this part of Japanese history. Thanks for sharing. Sending well wishes for your dad's good and speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that many have been persecuted for different beliefs. We can only hope the world will become a better place of acceptance for all. Goodness comes in many different forms.
ReplyDeleteWonderful story.. I think also that your second haiku is very good.. no need to be humble...
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