Hōkai-ji Temple

Overview

Hōkai-ji (宝戒寺, ほうかいじ, Hōkai-ji) is a Buddhist temple in the Komachi district of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. It was founded in 1335, during the Kenmu Restoration, the brief period of imperial rule between the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 and the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate in 1336. The temple belongs to the Tendai denomination, and together with the far older Sugimoto-dera it is one of only two Tendai temples in Kamakura.

Hōkai-ji is also known as Hagidera (萩寺), the "bush-clover temple", for the many bush clover plants in its garden. It is registered as one of the 33 Sacred Sites of Kannon in Kamakura, one of the Kamakura Enoshima Shichifukujin pilgrimage sites, and one of the 24 Jizō Reijō of Kamakura.

History

Hōkai-ji exists because of a single day of catastrophe. On 4 July 1333, the Kamakura shogunate, dominated by the Hōjō clan for 135 years, collapsed. As the forces of Nitta Yoshisada entered Kamakura, some 870 members of the Hōjō clan — men, women and children — killed themselves at Tōshō-ji, the family's bodaiji (菩提寺, ぼだいじ), or family temple, rather than accept defeat. The mass suicide followed the samurai code of honour that made surrender unthinkable.

The temple was founded in 1335 expressly to enshrine the souls of those 870 dead. Its full name, Kinryūzan Shakuman-in Endon Hōkai-ji (金龍山釈満院円頓宝戒寺), preserves that purpose: the temple was built as a memorial, not as a centre of a living monastic community in the usual sense.

In later centuries Hōkai-ji was a branch temple (寺末, まつじ, matsuji) of Kan'ei-ji, one of the two Tokugawa family temples in Edo. After Kan'ei-ji was destroyed, Hōkai-ji became a branch of Enryaku-ji, the head temple of Tendai Buddhism on Mount Hiei.

What Stands There Today

The temple occupies a site in Komachi, a short distance from Kamakura Station, at coordinates 35.3222° N, 139.5580° E. Its garden is the reason for its popular name: bush clover (hagi) blooms there in early autumn, and the temple is a well-known seasonal destination in Kamakura.

The main hall enshrines a statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, which is why Hōkai-ji appears on the 33 Sacred Sites of Kannon in Kamakura pilgrimage route. The temple also holds a Jizō statue, placing it on the 24 Jizō Reijō of Kamakura circuit, and a Benzaiten image, which makes it one of the Kamakura Enoshima Shichifukujin, the seven lucky gods pilgrimage of the Kamakura and Enoshima area.

The temple grounds sit on the former site of Tōshō-ji, the Hōjō family temple where the clan died in 1333. A memorial mound and stone markers on the grounds commemorate the 870 Hōjō dead, and the temple continues to hold services for them.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 宝戒寺. It is read ほうかいじ in kana, and romanised as Hōkai-ji.

Breaking it down character by character:

• 宝 (ほう, hō) — "treasure" or "jewel". This is the same character used in words like 宝物 (たからもの, takaramono, "treasure") and in the names of many temples. In this word it takes the Chinese-derived reading hō.
• 戒 (かい, kai) — "precept" or "commandment". In Buddhism this refers to the moral rules that monks and nuns undertake to follow, the same character used in 戒律 (かいりつ, kairitsu, "the monastic precepts"). Here it takes the reading kai.
• 寺 (じ, ji) — "temple". This is the standard character for a Buddhist temple, as opposed to 神社 (じんじゃ, jinja), a Shintō shrine. It takes the reading ji in this compound.

So 宝戒寺 means roughly "Treasure Precept Temple". The full formal name, 金龍山釈満院円頓宝戒寺, adds a mountain name (金龍山, Kinryūzan), an institution name (釈満院, Shakuman-in) and a lineage designation (円頓, Endon, referring to the Tendai doctrine of perfect and sudden enlightenment) before the temple name itself.

The popular name 萩寺 (はぎでら, Hagidera) is simpler: 萩 (はぎ, hagi) is bush clover, and 寺 (でら, dera) is temple — "Bush Clover Temple".

Visiting and Context

Hōkai-ji is in Komachi, within walking distance of Kamakura Station and close to Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, the shrine that was the spiritual centre of the Kamakura shogunate. The temple is open to visitors, and its bush clover garden is at its best in late summer and early autumn.

For students of Japanese, the temple's name is a useful study case. It shows three common kanji readings in a single compound: the Chinese-derived readings hō and kai, and the character 寺 read as ji. The same 寺 appears in hundreds of Japanese temple names, where it is read either ji or dera depending on the compound — Hōkai-ji uses ji, while Hagidera uses dera. Recognising that pattern makes temple names across Japan far easier to read.

The temple also anchors a specific moment in Japanese history. The Kenmu Restoration of 1333 to 1336, during which Hōkai-ji was founded, was the attempt by Emperor Go-Daigo to restore direct imperial rule after the Kamakura shogunate fell. It failed, and the Ashikaga shogunate replaced it. Hōkai-ji, founded in 1335 in the middle of that brief period, is one of the few surviving physical traces of it in Kamakura.