| Re: Japanese medals? |
Lake Biwa Museum, Shiga .. |
| toda (toda@lbm.go.jp) |
2003/12/26 12:54 |
In article <bs79vg$mt2$1@nntp6.u.washington.edu> sar@gol.com writes:
>> I'm primarily interested in finding out what the English translation of the
>> writing is on the items. I would also like to know the historical or
>> personal significance of the items.
>These are good-luck charms (omamori) from Buddhist temples and Shinto
>shrines in various parts of Japan. They have no military significance.
I do not agree with the word "no military significance" because
the word in the front side of "Patch 3" is for the fortune of war.
However, the shape of the charm is not singular for the military use
but is in common with various purpose of the grace
e.g., health, long life, accomplishing school work,
good marriage, blessed with children, etc.
In article <3FE66A20.592B5824@ipc.kajima.co.jp> otuka@ipc.kajima.co.jp writes:
>> http://www.pobox.com/~bpol
>Patch 1 Front : "Shikaumi-jinja omamori" (upside-down)
> charm of Shikaumi-jinja shrine
>Patch 2 Front : "Usa-hachimangu omamori"
> charm of Usa-hachimangu shrine
>Patch 3 Front : "Bu-un choukyuu shugo"
> charm for the fortune of war
>Patch 3 Back : "Hakata Nichiren Dai-douzou"
> big bronze statue of Nichiren at Hakata
>Dog tag? : "Naritasan" (charm of Naritasan-Shinshoji temple)
The remaining item is the "paper found inside".
I suppose that it is the essence of the charm.
Most of Japanese people have no experience to see it
probably because it is traditionally believed
to have a strong miraculous power
and discovering it might be harmful.
The sheet consists of a lot of (I think 67) magic words
(some of them are just the names of gods or saints).
In addition to the words, I suppose there is
a "kaou" (ornamented signature) of the writer at the bottom.
The words written vertically in the largest letters
at the middle of the upper half of the sheet is
"Namu MyouHou-RenGe-Kyou"
(Ave Sad-Dharma-Pundarika-Sutra)
... usually be corrupted as "NanMyou-HouRenGekkyo"
Treating this phrase as the main one implies that
the charm is written by a member of the order succeeding Nichiren,
whose name is found at the back side of "Patch 3".
Nichiren (1222-1282) is a Japanese priest.
He analyzed various complicated Buddist's sutras
and concluded that "MyouHou-RenGe-Kyou" is the fundamental one.
He then advocated that non-priest people
should chant its title as daily prey.
Takashi TODA
Research Scientist (Geophysics)
Lake Biwa Museum
toda@lbm.go.jp
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