Aizu Yaichi Monument (Todaiji)

Introduction

Aizu Yaichi (1881-1956), who signed himself Shusodo, was a tanka poet, calligrapher and self-taught historian of East Asian art, a professor at Waseda who earned his doctorate on the dating of Horyuji, Hokkiji and Horinji. His collections include Kanakushu and Nankin Shinsho. He returned to Nara again and again, writing its temples and images into short poems, and more than one monument in the city carries his verse. The stone inside Todaiji reads 'ohoraka ni morote no yubi wo hirakasete ohoki hotoke wa amatara shitari', titled 'At Todaiji' and collected in Nankin Shinsho, on the Great Buddha opening both hands until light fills the sky. It was unveiled on 12 October 1950 to mark his seventieth year, in his own hand, cut by Kita Masutaro with the yagen-bori chisel technique, on granite from Kitagishima island in Kasaoka, Okayama. The whole poem is in hiragana, characteristic of his calligraphy. The stone stands outdoors beside a path, costs nothing and takes ten minutes; entering the Great Buddha Hall to see the statue itself requires a separate JPY 800 ticket. Another, more frequently catalogued Aizu monument stands at Toshodaiji in the western part of the city, inscribed 'ohotera no maroki hashira no tsukikage wo tsuchi ni fumitsutsu mono wo koso omohe', on moonlight and the columns of the golden hall; the two are over five kilometres apart and are easy to confuse.

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