206 



place, where I have dedicated a miraculous image made by 

 Dengyo Daishi'. Thereupon the man disappeared, and Jikaku went 

 outside and looked towards the North-east. Suddenly a lucky 

 cloud (^ ^, zui-un, a cloud of a lucky colour) arose, and in it 

 a blue dragon was visible. Then the Daishi secretly left the 

 temple and went in search of this blue dragon, till he arrived 

 at the cottage (where the above-mentioned old man had lived 

 as a hermit and had obtained the image). There he worshipped 

 the image and saw the blue dragon, which was still there. 

 Jikaku turned himself to the lucky cloud and addressed the 

 dragon as follows: 'I wish to say a few words to you, you sacred 

 dragon, listen to me. I want to built a temple here, which you 

 must guard and protect from calamity. From this moment I 

 appoint you guardian-god of the shrine'. When the Daishi had 

 finished speaking, the dragon, which had listened motionless, 

 with his head bent down in reverence, disappeared. The priest 

 considered this to be a good sign, and called the sanctuary 

 'Blue Dragon temple'. Up till this day from time to time a 

 dragon- lantern appears there as a wonderful, lucky omen,- probably 

 in consequence of the above facts (i. e. because the blue dragon 

 is the temple's guardian-god)". 



The Udo meisho ki ' tells us that from olden times many 

 pilgrims went iip to this temple, which is also called Jokwoji 

 (f^ 3fc ^' "Temple of the Pure Light"), to worship the dragon- 

 lantern, which was sure to arise before the image of Yakushi Nyorai 

 on the eighth day of every month, and on New- Year's morning. 



§ 2. Kotao Daishi's spirit. 



In the Tomioha Hachiman shaki, "History of the Shinto temple 

 of Hachiman of Tomioka" ^, we read that in 1628 Kobo Daishi'^ 

 ghost appeared in a dream to a Shingon priest and ordered all 

 the priests of his sect in Kwanto, except the heads of Koya and 

 Sekigaku, to assemble in Eitaijima (in Yedo). They obeyed the 

 saint's command and preached sermons for ninety days at a 

 stretch. At the same time they erected a temple, dedicated to 



1 ;^ -^ i^ J^ @S ' written by AsAi Ryo-i, ]^ ^ T j^ i ■who lived 

 1639-1709, and printed in 1662; Ch. Ill, p. 19. 



2 W N A ll# f± IE ' q"°ted by^CRiHARA Ryu-an, ^ jg IIP ^ 

 (1793—1870), in his Ryu-an zuihitsu, ||0^|M^) written in 1819, Hyaklia 



setsurin, Vol, ^^ ~K ^ , p. 487. 



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