is the popular name of , a Buddhist temple in Kawasaki,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Founded in 1128, it is the headquarters of the Chizan sect of

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. K ...

. Kawasaki Daishi is a popular temple for ''

hatsumōde is the first Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine visit of the Japanese New Year. Many visit on the first, second, or third day of the year as most are off work on those days. Generally, wishes for the new year are made, new ''omamori'' (charms or ...

'' (the first visit to a place of worship in the new year). In 2006, 2.72 million people engaged in ''hatsumōde'' here, the third largest figure in Japan and the largest in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. In 2016, the temple made preparations to receive 3 million visitors over the same period.

Keihin Electric Express Railway (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. mea ...

, the oldest railroad company in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

of Japan, commenced service in January 1899 to carry passengers to Kawasaki Daishi from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Heiken-ji is known formally as . Bjh25_Kawasaki_templebell.jpg, Photo of the bell tower ( 鐘楼堂 , shōrō-dō ) by Felice Beato

References

External links

About Kawasaki Daishi
Buddhist temples in Kanagawa Prefecture Buildings and structures in Kawasaki, Kanagawa {{Japan-religious-struct-stub