Iiyama Kannon
Encyclopedia
is a Shingon sect Buddhist temple
located outside of Atsugi
, Kanagawa Prefecture
, Japan
. It is more popularly known as the , after its primary object of worship.
It is the 6th temple in the Bandō Sanjūsankasho
pilgrimage circuit of 33 Buddhist temples in the Kantō region
of eastern Japan to the Bodhisattva
Kannon.
around 725 AD, or the famed prelate Kūkai
from 810-835 AD. However, no historical documents have survived to substantiate this legend, and the history of the temple is thus uncertain. During the Kamakura period
, the temple was a center for ecumenical studies linking the Shingon sect with the Tendai
, Ritsu
and Zen
sects, along with Kakuon-ji in Kamakura
and Shōmyo-ji in Mutsuura
. At present, the temple belongs to the Kōyasan Shingon sect
of Japanese Buddhism.
The temple's Main Hall
dates from the Edo period
and houses the honzon
bronze Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu. The temple is also noted for its sakura
in spring.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
located outside of Atsugi
Atsugi, Kanagawa
is a city located in central Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 225,622 and a population density of 2,410 persons per km². The total area was 93.83 km²...
, Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is more popularly known as the , after its primary object of worship.
It is the 6th temple in the Bandō Sanjūsankasho
Bando Sanjusankasho
The is a series of 33 Buddhist temples in Eastern Japan sacred to Goddess Kannon. Bandō is the old name for what is now the Kantō region, used in this case because the temples are all in the Prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Tokyo, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba...
pilgrimage circuit of 33 Buddhist temples in the Kantō region
Kanto region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
of eastern Japan to the Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
Kannon.
History
According to temple legend, Hase-dera was founded by either the wandering holy ascetic GyōkiGyoki
was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province , to family of Korean Baekje descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera temple in Nara at the age of 15, and studied under master Dōshō as one of his first pupils. Gyōki studied Yogacara , a core doctrine of...
around 725 AD, or the famed prelate Kūkai
Kukai
Kūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....
from 810-835 AD. However, no historical documents have survived to substantiate this legend, and the history of the temple is thus uncertain. During the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
, the temple was a center for ecumenical studies linking the Shingon sect with the Tendai
Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
, Ritsu
Ritsu
The Ritsu school of Buddhism is one of the six schools of Nara Buddhism in Japan, noted for its use of the Vinaya textual framework of the Dharmaguptaka, one of the early schools of Buddhism...
and Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
sects, along with Kakuon-ji in Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
and Shōmyo-ji in Mutsuura
Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama
is one of the 18 wards of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 209,565 and a density of 6,760 persons per km². The total area was 31.01 km². The ward symbol, established 1987, expresses the image of sea, waves, and a sea...
. At present, the temple belongs to the Kōyasan Shingon sect
Kōyasan Shingon-shū
Koyasan Shingon-shu is a Japanese grouping of Shingon Buddhism. Headquartered in Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, it is also the oldest and largest of the eighteen Shingon sects in Japan. The main temple is Kongobu-ji....
of Japanese Buddhism.
The temple's Main Hall
Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism)
Main hall is the term used in English for the building within a Japanese Buddhist temple compound which enshrines the main object of veneration. Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, this single English term translates several Japanese words, among them Butsuden,...
dates from the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
and houses the honzon
Gohonzon
Gohonzon , is the object of devotion in many forms of Japanese Buddhism. In Japanese, go is an honorific prefix indicating respect and honzon means object of fundamental respect, veneration, or devotion...
bronze Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu. The temple is also noted for its sakura
Sakura
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese . Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit...
in spring.