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. Japan - Shrines and Temples - Index .
. Buddhist Temples and their Legends .
. Ise Saigoku 33 Kannon 伊勢西国三十三所観音巡礼 Pilgrimage .
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Hichooji 飛鳥寺 Hicho-Ji, Fukaya
雨尾山 Amaozan 味光院 Ajiko-In 飛鳥（ひちょう）寺 (Asukadera)
三重県桑名市深谷町2386 / Mie, Kuwana city,
Fukaya
The Kannon statue is 十一面観世音菩薩
Juichimen Kannon Bosatsu.
- Chant of the temple
Despite the strong rainy storm in the Amao Mountain,
the birds come down flying from afar.
- quote -
Hichō-ji temple stands in Yamanoshiro area of Fukaya district in Kuwana city.
It lies on the highland from which a wide view of Kiso river, Nagara river, Ibi river,
Nagoya city, 濃尾平野 Nōbi plain and 御嶽 Mount Ontake can all be seen.
There are many Buddhist statues enshrined at the temple.
The main statue worshiped in Hichō-ji is a 181cm high
Jūichimen Kannon (Eleven-Faced Kannon).
The other statues are:
statue of Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi, 774-835, the founder of Shingon sect),
Dainichi Nyorai (Great Illuminating Buddha), Zenkō-ji style triad of Buddha Amida (Buddha of Infinite Light),
Batō Kannon (Horse-Headed Kannon), Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon),
Koyasu Jizō (Bodhisattva Jizō who looks over children),
Fudō Myō-ō (Immovable Wisdom King).
The portrait of Kūkai, which is one of the temple’s treasures, is registered as Kuwana city Cultural Property.
In ancient time Hichō-ji stood in 坊ヶ谷 Bōgatani valley within Fukaya village grounds.
It was a famous Shingon school temple with 99.2ha of land and 12 sub-temples within its precinct.
Unfortunately many of its buildings, statues, sutras and documents were lost in a fire in 1571,
during the fights of the first “Great Unifier” of Japan Oda Nobunaga’s troops with the local daimyo.
In 1635 the Lord of Kuwana castle 松平定綱
Matsudaira Sadatsuna (1592-1652) visited the area.
When he heard about Hichō-ji’s past, he became sad and decided to donate rice fields to the temple.
Since 1660 the grandson of Sadatsuna – 松平定重
Matsudaira Sadashige (1644-1717)
every year donated money for the prayer.
In 1702 a samurai of Kuwana province called 南条三太左衛門宗親
Nanjō Santazaemon Munechika
climbed Mount Amao in search for a good place to enshrine a statue of Bodhisattva Jizō.
He obtained the statue some time before at Nishida village in Tamba province.
In the hut standing among the ruins of the old Hichō-ji temple Munechika discovered
a head of the Jūichimen Kannon statue buried in the ground.
The rest of the body was burned during the wars of 16th Century.
He found it strange and astonishing, so he decided to hire a Buddhist sculptor from Kyoto
and remake the lost part of the statue.
When the statue of the Goddess Kannon was finished he built a hall to enshrine her and living quarters for monks.
The statue of Bodhisattva Jizō, which Munechika was planning to enshrine,
was eventually placed at the Hichō-ji’s temporary hall in Okujō part of Fukaya village.
Since the restoration of the temple more than 100 samurai families from Kuwana province
were donating rice every month.
In 1869 the temple from Mount Amao and the Jizō Hall from the village were moved to the current location.
The reason was to make it easier for the believers to visit.
The temple is holding number 32 of Ise Saikoku Kannon Pilgrimage
and as such is very popular among worshipers and pilgrims alike.
According to the inscription on the stone monument, Mount Amao (Mount of the Rain Slope),
the name of the mountain on which Hichō-ji used to stand,
comes from a legendary pot that belonged to Tō-ji temple in Kyoto.
This old pot was called 雨壺
Amatsubo (Rain Pot) and the monks would pour water into it
and start to pray every time a drought occurred.
Next they would scoop the water and sprinkle it around.
It is said that when the drops would hit the ground it would immediately start to rain.
- source : isekannon.jp ... hichoji -
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shuin 朱印 stamp
omamori お守り amulets
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- - - - - Reference of the temple
- reference source : isekannon.jp/english ... -
- reference source : nippon-reijo.jimdofree ... -
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This temple is Nr. 32 of the pilgrimage
. Ise Saigoku 33 Kannon 伊勢西国三十三所観音巡礼 Pilgrimage .
. Kannon Bosatsu 観音菩薩 Avalokiteshvara .
. Juichimen Kannon 十一面観音 Senju Kannon 千手観音 Kannon with 11 faces and 1000 arms .
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. Temples with legends .
. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .
. Japan - Shrines and Temples - Index .
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