EXECERPT FROM THIS BOOK: A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN JAPAN (INCLUDING FORMOSA), BY BASIL CHAMBERLAIN,F.R.G.S. AND W.B. MASON, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND LATE OF THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS. WITH THIRTY MAPS AND PLANS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. NINTH EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT. LONDON. JOHN MURRAY, ALLEMARLE STREET. YOKOHAMA, SHANGHAI,- KELLY&WALSH, LIMITED-HONKONG, SINGAPORE.1913
BINZURU
IS
originally one of the Sixteen Rakan -was expelled from their number for having violated his vow of chastity by remarking upon the beauty of a female whence the usual situation of his image outside the sanctum.
It is also said that Buddha conferred on him the power to cure all human ills.
For this reason believers rub the image of Binzuru on that part which may be causing them pain in their own bodies and then rub them selves in the hope of obtaining relief and thus it comes about that such images are often found with the limbs partly worn away and the features nearly obliterated.
Binzuru is a high ly popular object of worship with the lower classes and his image is often to be seen adorned by his devotees with a red or yellow cotton hood a bib and mittens.