Oyama Shrine, Ashikuraji Chugu Kiganden
Main Image Wooden Seated Statue of Jiko Shonin Category Other
Impression TagsDepthDignityStillness
DescriptionEnshrined in the Founder’s Hall within Oyama Shrine at Ashikuraji, this wooden seated portrait represents Saeki Ariyori, the legendary founder of Mt. Tate worship who later became the ascetic Jiko Shonin. Carved from Tateyama cedar in joined-wood construction and dating to the early Kamakura period, it is designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan. The figure is shown with hands clasped in prayer and is directly tied to the legend in which Ariyori encountered Amida Nyorai and Fudo Myoo and opened Mt. Tate as a sacred mountain. Tateyama Town states that the statue is displayed to the public only once a year, on New Year’s Day. Though a portrait of a holy man rather than a Buddha image, it is one of the clearest surviving sculptural symbols of Tateyama’s syncretic Buddhist mountain faith.
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