S P O T ／ SPOT-241

Zenkyū-ji Temple (Ryōmen Sukuna Statue)

善久寺（両面宿儺像）ぜんきゅうじ（りょうめんすくなぞう）

Deep in the mountains of Hida, in the Nyūkawa district of Takayama, stands a small Sōtō Zen temple dedicated to one of Japan's strangest legendary beings. Ryōmen Sukuna — "the double-faced Sukuna" — is described in the eighth-century Nihon Shoki as a monstrous figure with a single body, two faces pointing in opposite directions, and four arms, who plundered the people of Hida until a court general struck him down. But the official chronicle is only half the story. In Hida's own oral tradition, the very same being is a hero: a local chieftain who slew a venomous dragon, protected the region from central authority, and founded temples — Zenkyū-ji among them. The temple keeps a carved statue of Ryōmen Sukuna and an Eleven-Faced Kannon, both designated cultural properties, along with a stone called the Gozen-ishi where he is said to have eaten, and a Garuda figure by the wandering monk-sculptor Enkū. To stand before the two-faced image is to stand inside an unresolved argument that is over a thousand years old: was he demon or savior? The villagers of Hida have always known their own answer. (Visiting the statue inside the hall requires contacting the temple in advance.)