Kōbō Daishi Kūkai & Amanojaku 弘法大師 空海 & 天邪鬼 Hashigui-iwa, Kushimoto, Wakayama 橋杭岩 串本町 和歌山市 by Kari Gröhn karigrohncom
Koku 虚空 by Kazushi Matama 眞玉 和司 Shakuhachi 尺八
Japanese childrens song by Kimio Eto 衛藤 公雄 Koto 琴
The Buddhist priest Kōbō Daishi (774-835) travelled to Kushimoto with Amanojaku who is a supernatural demon instigating people into wickedness. Amanojaku was getting uneasy with the greatness of Kōbō Daishi and, therefore, chatted up like this – Oshima is a remote island and on a day of bad weather the local people cannot visit Kushimoto. They need your help –
and suggested the priest to build a bridge and added – Why don’t you make it in a night?
As soon as the sun had set Kōbō Daishi began to carry huge rocks and put them in the sea. In a few hours many rocks were lined up halfway to Oshima. Amanojaku became worried and pretended to cry like a rooster. Kōbō Daishi thought the morning has already come and stopped working. As a reminder of this unfinished work there are tens of bridge leg stones (hashigui-iwa) between Kushimoto and Oshima Island.
In Japanese folklore Amanojaku is usually depicted as a kind of small oni who provokes a person’s darkest desires. Knowing what it is you want to say or do, the spiteful Amanojaku immediately comes up with a contrary statement or action, thus frustrating your purposes. But in Japanese folklore and Shintoism Amanojaku also has a playful, mischievous but ironically
protective image. Amanojaku refuses to accept consensus conclusions and embraces skepticism.
In Japanese Buddhism demons are often employed to scare away evil and are actually on the side of the good and the Amanojaku are symbolized as either defeated by the Buddhist guardian deities or servants of them.
Kōbō Daishi is credited with all kinds of miraculous and practical abilities including water control and the invention of kana syllabification. The devout adherents believe that even now he remains in eternal Samadhi in his bodily form within the inner temple on Mt Koya 高野山 rather than deceased.
AloJapan.com