Ōya Temple Garden, Utsunomiya.

“As so often, there is a legend (engi) associated with the origins of the temple.

“In ancient times, a well of clear fresh water was sprouting forth from a hidden dent in the rock front. However, in the well lived a venomous serpent and from time to time, the serpent would spit its poison into the water, killing people who merely touched the water.

“When Kōbō Daishi* passed through the area, the villagers told him about their troubles with the snake. Kōbō Daishi went into the hidden dent and when he emerged again (here the accounts differ, some say after one night, others after ten days), he told the villagers that he had taken care of the snake.

“Kukai said goodbye and went on his way. When the villagers themselves entered the cave, they were greeted by the shining carving of the Senju Kannon.

“The serpent had been transformed into a white snake, embodying a benevolent Indian god. To this day, in a small red tower in the temple’s Japanese garden, a living white snake is kept along with a stone image of the animal in the pleasant temple garden.

“Inspired by Kōbō Daishi, the villagers became devout Buddhists, so the story goes, and erected the temple surrounding the Senju Kannon.

“More recent research came up with very different but no less remarkable assumptions about the origins of the Senju Kannon.

“Comparative studies claim close similarities between the Senju Kannon and ancient stone carvings in Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan. An unknown Buddhist stone carver from Afghanistan might have made his way to Heian Period Japan (794-1185) and created the Senju Kannon, the researchers concluded.

“Besides the Kannon carving, the temple also houses a number of Buddha carvings from the same period of the Senju Kannon.

“These are arranged in three groupings of three reliefs with nine statues in all.”

* “Kūkai, born Saeki no Mao, posthumously called Kōbō Daishi, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher and poet who founded the esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi under the monk Huiguo.”