, commonly called the , is one of the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temples in the city of

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, famous for housing a massive wooden statue of

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

. The temple originally belonged to the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

sect of Buddhism, but eventually became an independent temple of the

Jōdo-shū Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"), is a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Kamakura era monk Hōnen (1133–1212). The school is traditionally considered as having been established in 1175 and i ...

.English language pamphlet from Kaikozan Hasedera

History

Legend has it that the temple was established in the

Tenpyō was a after '' Jinki'' and before ''Tenpyō-kanpō.'' This period spanned the years from August 729 through April 749. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 729 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The p ...

era An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

(729-749 C.E.). However, documents at the temple suggest that the temple really came into its own during the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

(1192-1333).

Statue

The main statue of Kannon is one of the largest wooden statues in Japan, with a height of It is made from camphor wood, with gold gilding. It has 11 heads, each of which represents a different phase in the search for enlightenment. According to legend, the statue is one of two images of Kannon carved by a monk named Tokudō in 721. The camphor tree was so large, according to legend, that he decided that he could carve two statues with it. One was enshrined in

Hase-dera is the main temple of the Shingon-shu Buzan-ha, Buzan sect of Shingon Buddhism. The temple is located in Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The Main Hall is a National Treasure (Japan), National Treasure of Japan. Overview Accord ...

in the city of

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

, while the other was set adrift in the sea to find the place with which it had a karmic connection. The statue washed ashore on Nagai Beach on the

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamak ...

near Kamakura in the year 736. The statue was immediately brought to Kamakura where a temple was built to honor it.

Temple buildings

The temple sits about half-way up Mount Kamakura, southwest of the city of

. The temple commands an impressive view over

Yuigahama is a beach near Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The relation between the beach and its neighboring areas is complex. Although Yuigahama is legally the entire 3.2 km beach that goes from Inamuragasaki, which separates it from ...

. Seven buildings make up the temple complex.

Temple grounds

The temple is built on two levels and also includes a cave. The cave, called ''benten kutsu'' (Benzaiten Grotto), contains a long winding tunnel with a low ceiling and various statues and devotionals to

Benzaiten is an East Asian Buddhism, East Asian Buddhist Dharmapala, goddess who originated from the Hindu Saraswati, the patroness of speech, the arts, and learning. Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the sixth through eighth centuries, mai ...

, the sea goddess and the only female of the

Seven Lucky Gods In Japanese mythology, the are believed to grant good luck and are often represented in netsuke and in artworks. One of the seven (Jurōjin) is said to be based on a historical figure. They all began as remote and impersonal gods, but graduall ...

in Japanese mythology. The temple is famous for its

hydrangea ''Hydrangea'' ( or ) is a genus of more than 70 species of Flowering plant, flowering plants native plant, native to Asia and the Americas. Hydrangea is also used as the common name for the genus; some (particularly ''Hydrangea macrophylla, H. m ...

s, which bloom along the Hydrangea Path in June and July. The grounds of the temple are home to hundreds of small Jizō statues, placed by parents mourning offspring lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. These statues remain in place for about a year, before being removed to make way for more statues; it is estimated that some 50,000 Jizō statues have been placed at Hase-dera since World War II.

Pilgrimage routes

The temple is the fourth of the 33 stations of two different pilgrimage routes: * Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage circuit dedicated to the goddess Kannon * Kamakura Kannon PilgrimageKannon - Goddess of Mercy--Pilgrimage in Japan
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Gallery

File:Sammon main gate.jpg,

Sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other denominations ...

(main gate) File:Amido-do hall.JPG,

Amida Amida can mean : Places and jurisdictions * Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of: ** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida ** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Ro ...

-do File:Shoro Belfry in Hase-dera.JPG,

Shōrō The two main types of bell tower in Japan The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple in Japan, housing the temple's . It can also be found at some Shinto shrines which used to function as temples (see article ' ...

(belfry) File:KakigaraInari shrine.JPG, Kakigara- Inari File:View over Kamakura bay.JPG, View over Kamakura's

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...

File:Benten-do Hall.JPG, Kyōzō (Sutra Archive) File:Daikoku-do Hall.JPG, Daikoku-dō File:Hasedera kannon, 10.JPG,

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

File:Rock garden, Hase-dera, Kamakura, 2016.jpg, Rock garden

Benten-Kutsu Cave

File:Hase-dera_cave.jpg, Entrance to the cave File:Benten-Kutsu statue 01.JPG, Statues of Benten File:Benten-Kutsu statue 02.JPG,

Bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of Daikoku-ten File:Benten-Kutsu statue 03.JPG, Bas-relief of Gyūba-dōji File:Benten-Kutsu statue 04.JPG, Different Buddhist deities File:Hasedera kannon, grotta 05.JPG,

References

External links

Hasedera

"Hasedera Temple(Hase Kannon)" page (in English) {{Authority control Buddhist temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa Temples of Avalokiteśvara Jōdo-shū temples