Okunoin stone prayer wheel
This is a stone prayer wheel located in Okunoin Cemetery.
There are similar stone prayer wheels in many temples in Japan, such as the much newer one at Shitennōji Temple (四天王寺), in Osaka.
In this new “updated” version you can see a sutra prayer carved into the stone wheel.
By rotating it one full turn a believer earns the same merit as chanting it once.
This is not just being lazy! It is a physical act symbolizing the turning of the wheel of life. Seeing it come back around. Learning to understand that the prayer wheel and life can turn endlessly, unless… we transcend the cycle (circle).
The the prayer wheel in Okunoin is gives the location of
大阪西長堀 Osaka Nishi Nagahori
It also gives the name of 作次郎 Sakujiro
as the donor / almsgiver 施主
The stone marker next to it has
百度月参記念碑
Commemorative stone honoring the visiting of “One hundred times a month” for
榮次郎 Eijiro