Holy Cow! An Unexpected Pilgrimage!
Japanese Folktale
Before we had viral TikToks and memes, uncreative people had to make do with proverbs. Here’s an old-timey Japanese proverb: “a pilgrimage to Zenkō-ji chasing after a cow” 牛にひかれて善光寺参り. If I tell you the story behind this moom...meme, can you guess its meaning?
Once upon a time, a greedy, meanspirited, unenlightened woman lived in Shinano Province, not far from Nagano. She spent her days enthusiastically ignoring the sage teachings of the Buddha.
One day, she paused her ignorations to do some laundry, as if washing the stains from her clothing could remove the blemishes from the immortal soul she didn’t believe in. Foolish wench!
Suddenly, a cow made a dashing entrance! The unexpectedly enterprising bovine wrapped its horn in a piece of laundry and galloped off into the sunset. The woman ran after the surprisingly nimble animal until they arrived at Zenkō-ji 善光寺 in Nagano. This was one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan, and conveniently one of only a few pilgrimage sites that women were allowed to visit.
The ninjacow disappeared into the shadows, but left behind a poem written in disgustingly divine drool: “Do not think this a mere cow’s prank, the mercy of Buddha has led you to righteousness.” The livestock spit sonnet managed to teach the woman what a lifetime of experience had failed to. She immediately repented her past wickedness and spent the night at Zenkō-ji, praying to Buddha to help her achieve enlightenment (and to return her damn laundry already).
Did you figure out the meaning of the proverb? It means doing or experiencing something good due to an unexpected event, especially one that occurs despite your own reluctance. A similar English proverb nobody remembers or uses is “to make a virtue out of necessity.” Humans are the same everywhere!
In some versions of the story, the woman passed a small temple on her way back home. Inside, she found her laundry hanging on a statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. She promptly decided to become a nun and dedicate her life to tending this temple. Some people claim the temple was Shakuson-ji 釈尊寺 on Nunobiki Mountain 布引山 (“Cloth Pull Mountain”!). You can visit it today, if you like stunningly beautiful places likely to cause vertigo:
Zenkō-ji meanwhile claims to be the home of the oldest Buddhist statue in Japan. The statue is so holy (or so rotten and falling apart) that no one is allowed to see it, even Buddha himself. There’s a replica statue, but even that is only brought out once every seven years for people to (very carefully) ogle.
If you visit Zenkō-ji during the sacred replica statue viewing festival, you can cleanse your soul by having your picture taken in this totally-not-tacky-at-all cut-out:
If you like this folklake about a cow, you’ll love this one about a bunny and crocosharks.
References
Dorson, Richard M. Folk Legends of Japan. Chales E. Tuttle, 1962, pp. 50–52.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130715042319/http://www.geocities.jp/kakezukuri/kake09.html
https://善光寺-御朱印.jinja-tera-gosyuin-meguri.com/category/%E7%89%9B%EF%BC%81/%E9%95%B7%E9%87%8E%E3%83%BB%E5%96%84%E5%85%89%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%A8%E7%89%9B%E3%81%AE%E7%94%B1%E6%9D%A5%EF%BC%81%E3%80%8C%E7%89%9B%E3%81%AB%E5%BC%95%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E5%96%84%E5%85%89%E5%AF%BA
Great story, I really enjoyed it.
This is a great article and I really enjoyed reading it.