Kōbō Daishi's Return
When Kōbō Daishi was about to leave China and return to his own country he went down to the seashore and threw his vajra[3] across the ocean waves, and it was afterwards found hanging on the branch of a pine-tree at Takano, in Japan.
We are not told anything about Kōbō Daishi's voyage to his own land; but directly he arrived in Japan he gave thanks for the divine protection he had received during his travels. On the Naked Mountain he offered incantations of so powerful a nature that the once barren mountain became covered with flowers and trees.
Kōbō Daishi, as time advanced, became still more holy. During a religious discussion the Divine Light streamed from him, and he continued to perform many great marvels. He made brackish water pure, raised the dead to life, and continued to commune with certain gods. On one occasion Inari,[4] the God of Rice, appeared on Mount Fushimé and took from the great saint the sacrifice he offered. "Together, you and I," said Kōbō Daishi, "we will protect this people."
The Death of Kōbō Daishi
In A.D. 834 this remarkable saint died, and we are told that a very great gathering, both lay and priestly, wept at the graveyard of Okunoin, in Kōya, where he was buried. His death, however, by no means meant a sudden cessation of miracles on his part, for when the Emperor Saga died "his coffin was mysteriously borne through the air to Kōya, and Kōbō himself, coming forth from his grave, performed the funeral obsequies." Nor did the wonders cease with this incident, for the Emperor Uda received from Kōbō Daishi the sacred Baptism. When the Imperial Messenger to the temple where Kōbō Daishi was worshipped was unable to see the face of this great saint, Kōbō "guided the worshipper's hand to touch his knee. Never, as long as he lived, did the Messenger forget that feeling!"
A Miraculous Image
At Kawasaki there is a temple dedicated to Kōbō Daishi. "Local legend attributes the sanctity of this place to an image of Kōbō Daishi carved by that saint himself while in China, and consigned by him to the waves. It floated to this coast, where it was caught in a fisherman's net, and, being conveyed ashore, performed numerous miracles. The trees in the temple grounds, trained in the shape of junks under sail, attest the devotion paid to this holy image by the seafaring folk."[5]