I went to see the wooden statue of The Great King Emma.This wooden statue is made in Genroku period in Edo era ( 17^th century ). It was made by a man serving Lord Kira. His master Kira is a historical figure and has been depicted as a bad person. As we can see it in the Kabuki play “ Chusingura “. This man was always frustrated and angry since his lord was not bad in fact.

He was desperate and did not know how to comfort his dead lord and the dead co-workers. He decided to make this great king Emma a statue. 

He made every effort to earn money to build it. When it was completed, he was in tears but by that time he found himself free from grudges. 

According to Buddhism, after one’s death one’s acts while alive are investigated. This is the mirror which reflects what one did while one was alive. We can’t hide anything. We go through seven judges every seven days. The Great King Emma is one of the seven judges. That’s why we hold ceremonies such as “ syonanoka” , meaning first seven days, and “ shijyukunichi ”, meaning the 49^th day, hoping the dead person will receive favorable judgments. Depending on the judgment the person’s next life can be determined. If the person were very bad, he or she must keep suffering in hell for a long time. When I was a child my grandmother and great grandmother used to tell me this story and told me not to do wrong things. Even if I could cover up my wrong doing , after death I would have to make up for it. This old wooden Emma statue is taken good care of by the people in that area. Now the new hall for this statue is under construction. These days Buddhist statues are popular and some people steal them. I hope nobody will do this; perhaps fear of judgment will deter them from doing anything like that.