Ryozen-ji Temple in Fujieda

Located strategically on the historic Tokaido highway between Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto, Fujieda is these days a pleasant suburb of Shizuoka, but possesses an improbably large number of temples and other sights. Near Fujieda-Omote crossing, about a twenty or thirty-minute walk (or short bus ride) from Fujieda station, Ryozen-ji is a charming example, the charm coming mostly from its population of statues.

Near the gate there are six red-bibbed jizo statues, Buddhist guardians of childrens' souls, but dotted around the grounds there are plenty more. Some of them are serene Buddhist deities, but many of them are cute little things, baby-faced but with the peaceful expressions of enlightened saints.

There's also a floor of carefully-tended raked gravel in front of the worship hall, and in the graveyard to the rear, there are a few more statues and a large number of ancient grave markers, worn and weathered with age.