Tengu at Kenchoji

One of the most popular and well know mythological creatures in Japan is the tengu, or 天狗 in Japanese characters. Literally meaning “heavenly dogs”, there is nothing much dog like about the creature itself these days. Over the years the tengu has evolved to become a sort of guardian spirits of the wild spaces and mountains around Japan. Not evil, but not very friendly either. Wikipedia has an excellent article on tengu, shock full of information, tales and pictures.

I saw these wonderful tengu statues at the inner temple area behind Kenchoji in Kamakura (which you might remember from this earlier post), where they guard the final path up to the shinto shrine (yes, the two religions have a very complicated relationship here in Japan…) of Hansobo (半僧坊). Aren’t they awesome? How cool would it be if these creatures actually descended from the mountain top to greet you?

The climb up to this shrine can be pretty tough, so make sure you have enough water and stamina to last you all the way. The last picture shows you how far you have walked from the temple. The small green-grey box in the middle of the photo is Kenchoji temple. Far, isn’t it? If you collect shuin, don’t forget your shuincho, and if you enjoy looking at cool ema (the pictured votive tablets where you write your prayers and wishes to be hung at shrines) they have a pretty good one with a tengu dressed in blue.