The Eleven-faced Thousand-armed Kannon, the principal image of Tsukuba-san Ōmido, is currently being repaired at the Suiundo Matsudo workshop. Last year (2018), Suiundo conducted an internal inspection to check the balance between the principal image and the newly made canopy and ritual implements for the innner sanctum, demonstrating the strength of Suiundo’s craftsmanship.

Inspection of the Eleven-faced Thousand-armed Kannon statue and ritual implements at the Betsuin Tsukuba-san Ōmido of the Grand Head Temple Gokokuji in the Suiundo Matsudo workshop.

The Matsudo workshop consists of ten buildings, but the principal image is enshrined in the building used for producing prototypes of cast Buddhist statues, which has a ceiling height of 8 metres and a height of 6 metres even under the crane.

Here, the principal image, Eleven-faced Thousand-armed Kannon, was actually placed on the wooden base of the Shumidan (the central altar), a Doban (a type of altar cloth) and a model of a canopy were hung from the ceiling, the wooden base of the Gomadan (an altar for the fire ceremony) was placed, and a paper model of a lantern was placed beside the principal image to check the balance between the principal image and the ritual implements. The priests involved in the construction of the Ōmido were satisfied with the results, and everyone eagerly awaited its completion.

Ritual implements layout diagram for Betsuin Tsukuba-san Ōmido, Grand Head Temple of Gokokuji Temple

Although the balance between the actual size of the figures and the principal image had been confirmed at the design stage, visual confirmation further increased the reliability. This kind of design plan is unique to Suiundo, which handles both architecture and ritual implements design.

February 2019

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