Togakuji Temple
Main Image Stone Kongo Rikishi Statues (Akagami Nio) Category Tenbu (Deva)
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DescriptionThe pair of stone Kongo Rikishi statues standing beside the sanmon gate in front of Goma Hall at Togakuji Temple are known as the “Akagami Nio” because their bodies are covered with red paper. According to the temple’s official site, they were donated to Tabata Hachiman Shrine on August 21, 1641 by the monk Donyo Shukai and were moved to Togakuji, which had served as the shrine’s betto temple, during the early Meiji separation of Shinto and Buddhism. The pair consists of an Agyo and an Ungyo figure. Worshippers place red paper on the same part of the statue as the affected part of their body to pray for the Nio to take on the illness in their place, and offer straw sandals after their prayer is fulfilled. Kita City’s official tourism site also introduces them as a public sightseeing spot. Set outdoors on the temple grounds, they can be worshipped at close range and form one of Tokyo’s most distinctive Nio devotional sites.
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