VOL.197 OCTOBER 2024
JAPAN’S HEALING FORESTS (PART 2)
Autumn Forests with Colorful Leaves [Discovering Japan Through the Eyes of Japanese Influencers] Experience the Compassion of Kannon amid Amazing Scenery on the Kannon Pilgrimage of 33 Sites in Saigoku (Western Japan)

The Kimii-dera Temple grounds, located on the western slope of Mount Nagusa. The Hondo main temple hall is shown at the left and the temple’s two-storied pagoda at slightly to the right of the center. (Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture)
Photo: ISHIZAWA Yoji

ONO Kenkichi is a professor at Osaka University of Tourism specializing in garden history and cultural heritage preservation. In this month’s issue, he tells us about the Kannon Pilgrimage of 33 sites in Saigoku (Western Japan), a route offering travelers many tastes of the uniquely Japanese atmosphere.

Pilgrimages to sites sacred in one’s religion are considered one of the origins of tourism. Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 6th century by way of the Korean Peninsula. The first pilgrimage practice that appeared following that was the Kannon Pilgrimage of 33 sites in Saigoku (Western Japan) around a circuit of Buddhist temples and halls dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokiteśhvara). While the pilgrimage is said to date to the 8th century, it was not until around the 11th to 12th century that Buddhist monks began traveling around the present circuit of 33 sacred sites. Later, the current order — starting with Seiganto-ji Temple in Wakayama Prefecture, followed by temples in the prefectures of Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Shiga, before finishing with Kegon-ji Temple in Gifu Prefecture as the 33rd site — came to be widespread around the 15th century.

Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, is a Buddhist deity who works to save all the living beings in the world, and appears in various forms. In sutras and scriptures, Kannon is said to stay at Mount Potalaka, known in Japanese as Fudaraku-san, a mountain described as towering from the sea or being located near the seacoast. This is why many of the 33 temple sites on the Saigoku pilgrimage route are located on places such as mountainsides. Let me focus on two of those here: the second temple on the route, Kimii-dera Temple in Wakayama City, and the 30th, Hogon-ji Temple in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture.

Kimii-dera is a temple said to have been built in the 8th century. The temple’s honzon (principal object of worship) is a statue of the Juichimen (eleven-faced) Kannon.* However, the statue is kept out of sight and is ordinarily unavailable for worshipping. The temple is built on the western slope of Mount Nagusa, a mountain with an elevation of 228.7 meters, with structures including the Hondo main temple hall and a bell tower. The site also offers stunning views out across picturesque Waka-no-ura Bay, a site mentioned in the 8th-century waka** poetry collection, Manyoshu (literally, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves,” which contains a total of 4,500 waka poems.). It is also a well-known destination for cherry blossom viewing. There are also places where water springs up from the ground at three spots in the precincts. Such facts about the site make it a good match with what Mount Potalaka is imagined to be like.

Hogon-ji is another temple said to have been constructed in the 8th century. The honzon of its Hondo main temple hall is Benzaiten,*** while the Kannon-do (Kannon Hall) is dedicated to the Senju (thousand-armed) Kannon.**** The Senju Kannon here is also ordinarily kept concealed from view. One special feature to point out about the temple site is that it is built on Chikubushima Island, an island in Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. This place is reminiscent of the image of Mount Potalaka, where is said to tower from the sea, and visitors can also take in magnificent views of the lake from the temple grounds.

The Kannon Pilgrimage of 33 sites in Saigoku also includes many other amazing temple sites. Hase-dera Temple in Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture features a 10-meter-tall Juichimen (eleven-faced) Kannon. Katsuo-ji Temple in Minoh City, Osaka Prefecture is a mountain temple located near the Minoh Waterfall with a fall of 33 meters. Nakayama-dera Temple in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture is said to be the oldest sacred site associated with Kannon in Japan. Nariai-ji Temple in Miyazu City, Kyoto Prefecture offers sweeping views of the scenic Amanohashidate.***** Travelers of the Saigoku pilgrimage get a sense of the Bodhisattva Kannon’s heart of compassion and can take in amazing scenic views found nowhere else. Those who follow this path can experience all the nuances of the uniquely Japanese atmosphere.

Reference: Location of the temples in this article

ONO Kenkichi
Professor at Osaka University of Tourism. Honorary fellow at Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. Doctor of Agriculture (Kyoto University). Author of Iwanami Nihon Teien Jiten (“Iwanami Japanese Garden Dictionary”) (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2004), Nihon Teien – Kukan no Bi no Rekishi (“Japanese Gardens: History of the Beauty of Space”) (Iwanami Shinsho / Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2009), Nihon Teien no Rekishi to Bunka (“History and Culture of Japanese Gardens”) (Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2015), etc. Gives lectures on Japanese gardens and tourism all over the country.

* A form of the Bodhisattva Kannon. Buddhist images of the Juichimen Kannon typically feature 10 or 11 faces on the front-facing head of the image’s main face.
** Collection of traditional Japanese fixed forms of poetry. Although the Manyoshu contains both poetry in long, short, and other forms, the most of the collection consists of short 31-syllable poems.
*** Originally based on an Indian sacred river goddess, and a goddess of fertility who personified its greatness, but in Japan it is worshipped as a goddess of the arts, especially music.
**** A form of the Bodhisattva Kannon. It is said to have a thousand arms, each with an eye, and symbolizes boundless mercy.
***** A spot of scenic beauty consisting of a shoal, or sandbar, 3.6 km in length, thickly covered with pine trees. Known as one of the three most scenic sites in Japan, along with Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture and Miyajima in Hiroshima Prefecture.

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By ONO Kenkichi
Photo: ISHIZAWA Yoji; ONO Kenkichi