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The 3 colours of the oni symbolize the 'sandoku' (三毒 the '3 kleshas'). In Buddhism kleshas are mental states that cloud the mind, poison the heart, and manifest in unwholesome actions.

❤️greed/desire (貪欲)
💚ill-will/anger (瞋恚)
🖤ignorance/folly (愚痴)

#Setsubun #節分 #鬼

🫘👹🪓DANCING DEMONS❤️💚🖤

One of Setsubun's (節分) liveliest festivals takes place at the small temple of Rozan-ji.
At 3pm three oni (one red, one green, one black) appear before the main hall. Clasping flaming torches and mean-looking weapons, they begin to dance!

#Kyoto #廬山寺

The herbs are good for you!

🌿Seri (せり)=increases appetite
🌿Nazuna (なずな)=iron rich
🌿Gogyō (ごぎょう)=antipyretic
🌿Hakobera (はこべら)=rich in Vitamin A
🌿Hotokenoza (ほとけのざ)=full of fibre
🌿Suzuna (すずな/かぶ)=vitamin rich
🌿Suzushiro (すずしろ)=promotes digestion

During the Edo period, as with many courtly traditions, the custom of eating nanakusa-gayu porridge (七草粥) spread to the masses. The bakufu and samurai classes incorporated 'Nanakusa-no-sekku' (七草の節句) into their annual celebrations.
It remains popular to this day.
#Japan

It was in the 'Kakai-shō' (河海抄), a commentary on 'The Tale of Genji' written by Yotsutsuji Yoshinari (四辻善成) around 1362, that we first see the current combination of 7 herbs: water dropwort, shepherd's purse, cudweed, chickweed, nipplewort, turnip and daikon.
#七草の節句

Sei Shōnagon (清少納言 ?966-1025?) in 'The Pillow Book' (枕草子) says "On January 6th, a person brought young grasses for January 7th, and people grew excited...."
It seems that a game was made of collecting the herbs on the 'first day of the rat of the New Year' (初子).
#Japan

It was once common to prepare the porridge the night before, chopping the herbs while singing a special song and facing that year's 'lucky direction'.
The dish is eaten as a prayer for health and longevity (in China it was eaten to ward off evil spirits)🥣🌿

#Kyoto #Japan #京都

For the first time that year fingernails and toenails were cut.
It was believed the protective property of the herb would be transferred, guaranteeing a sick-free year (and safeguarding you from any nail-related accidents).

This odd custom was known as 'nanakusa-zume' (七草爪)😯

On the eve of Nanakusa-no-sekku a very strange ritual once took place.
When the 7 herb porridge was being prepared, the remainder of the shepherd's purse (なずな) would be steeped in water. The family would soak their fingers in this soup.

#七草の節句 #Japan #7herbsofspring

The Nanakusa song:

7 herbs, shepherd's purse
before the birds of China fly to Japan,
let's get shepherd's purse
chop-chop-chopping!
chop-chop-chopping!

ななくさ なずな
とうど の とりが
にほん の くにへ
わたらぬ さきに
ストトン トン トン
ストトン トン トン

https://youtu.be/FoFuOLz3zTo?si=Ll4tuWyv5MIDS7Nf

Atsuko-san is here to show you what the 'nanakusa' (七草 '7 herbs') look like.

In the depths of winter, when frost covered the ground, the 'nanakusa' were some of the only plants still growing. Their lush green colour came to represent hope and renewal.
#Kyoto #京都 #七草の節句

You can find the 7 herbs you need for your rice-congee conveniently packaged at supermarkets.

🌿water dropwort (せり)
🌿shepherd’s purse (なずな/ぺんぺん)
🌿cudweed (ごぎょう)
🌿chickweed (はこべら)
🌿nipplewort (ほとけのざ)
🌿turnip (すずな/かぶ)
🌿daikon (すずしろ・大根)

🌿WHOLESOME HERBS🥣

After all that New Year excess it's time for a hearty porridge to help fortify the body for the year ahead.

For over a thousand years herbs have been gathered, mixed into a rice gruel and consumed on the 7th day of the 1st month as a prayer for health and luck.

like a fossil tree
from which we gather no flowers
sad has been my life
fated no fruit to produce

埋もれ木の
花咲くことも
なかりしに
身のなる果てぞ
悲しかりける

-Death poem of Minamoto-no-Yorimasa (源頼政 1106-80), leader of the Minamoto forces at the start of the Genpei War.

Before the 'Phoenix Hall' (officially known as the Amida-dō, and commonly called this right up to 1680) is a stone lantern that has survived since the temple's foundation.

At the height of its power Byōdō-in's precincts boasted 26 halls, 7 pagodas, and an elaborate garden.
#京都

The original main hall stood closer to the river, but in 1053 the current Hōō-dō was constructed as part of an 'earthly paradise'.

Such was Byōdō-in's beauty that a famous saying went ..."If you are suspicious about the existence of Amida's Pure Land, pray at the Temple in Uji".

Byōdō-in's founding date is significant as it was considered the 2001 year since Buddha had entered Nirvana and the 1st year of 'The Age of Decline of the Buddhist Law' (末法 'mappō').
Many nobles funded halls and gardens dedicated to Amida, lord of the 'Western Pure Land Paradise'.

After Michinaga passed away in 1027 the 'Uji Palace' (宇治殿) came into possession of his son Yorimichi (藤原頼通 992–1074).
When Yorimichi turned 60 years old he was inspired to transform the sprawling site into a temple, and made the priest Myōson (明尊 971-1063) first abbot.
#宇治殿 #Uji #宇治

Likely beginning as a summer retreat for Minamoto-no-Tōru (源融 822-95), possible inspiration for Murasaki Shikibu's "Genji", the property passed through the hands of Emperor Uda, Minamoto-no-Shigenobu (源重信 - Uda's grandson), and on to the powerful Regent Fujiwara-no-Michinaga.

✨😇A SLICE OF PARADISE🪷🎶

Byōdō-in's ( 平等院) Hōō-dō (鳳凰堂 'Phoenix Hall') was completed in 1053. Once completely surrounded by Aji-ga-ike pond, the stretch of water helped protect the building from fires in 1336 and 1483 that completely destroyed the rest of the temple.

#Byodoin #平等院 #Uji