Visiting Rengein Tanjo-ji Okunoin, Tamana, Kumamoto

Taking a short break in Yame-Fukushima, we went to Rengein Tanjo-ji Okunoin (蓮華院誕生寺奥之院), a Rinzai temple in Tamana, Kumamoto. As name suggests this temple is a branch of the Rengein Tanjo-ji main temple, located in the heart of the city.

It's a big temple with restaurant and a resting place in front of the entrance. Oddly enough, the gate at the entrance has changed a little to make it a circle. It seems to be called the heart gate (心経門 shinkyomon in Japanese) and was carved with the Buddha's general cardiac.

Passing the above-mentioned Shinkyomon gate, pay an admission fee (200 yen per person) to go into the temple. The time was already 4:30, 30 minutes before closing time. I ask a female staff who sells an admission ticket for entry into the temple. She said "You must see the big Buddha statue first, then go other places such as the five-story pagoda and the bell tower".

Before going to the Buddha statue, I took a picture of the five-story pagoda and Niomon gate. This is a very beautiful pagoda, with a height of 51.5 meters which is the third largest in Japan.

The big Koen Daibosatsu (皇円大菩薩) Buddha statue.

A view of the entire temple from the Buddha statue. The Niomon gate where we visited before, can be seen in the center picture.

Going back to the Niomon gate, then we saw the bell tower. The bell tower, called Hiryu-no-kane (飛龍の鐘), is considered to be the world's biggest bell. It was first made in Kyoto and finally came here in May 1977 by way of the Seto Inland Sea.