Kokawa-dera Temple

Overview

Kokawa-dera (粉河寺) is a Buddhist temple in the Kokawa neighbourhood of Kinokawa, a city in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism, and its principal image — the honzon (本尊, ほんぞん, the main object of worship) — is a statue of Senjū Kannon Bosatsu (千手観音菩薩, せんじゅかんのんぼさつ, Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion). The temple was founded in 770, the first year of the Hōki era (宝亀, ほうき), during the Nara period (710–794).

Kokawa-dera is the third stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (西国観音巡礼, さいごくかんのんじゅんれい), a circuit of thirty-three temples across western Japan dedicated to Kannon. The temple's full name is Kazaragi-san Kokawa-dera (風猛山 粉河寺).

The honzon is an absolute hibutsu (秘仏, ひぶつ, a secret image) — a statue that has never been displayed to the public. At many temples with a secret principal image, a substitute statue called an omaetachi (お前立ち) stands in front of the main altar so that worshippers have something to face. At Kokawa-dera, the omaetachi is also a secret image. The principal image is said to be buried in a container underground beneath the main hall as a precaution against fire. The omaetachi is uncovered only once a year, on 31 December, for cleaning by monks connected with the temple; lay people have no opportunity to see it.

History

The temple's founding is dated to 770, the first year of the Hōki era, placing it near the end of the Nara period. That era saw the great state-sponsored temples of Nara and the spread of Buddhism into the provinces, and Kokawa-dera belongs to that wave of regional temple foundation.

Over the centuries the temple grew into a major religious centre in what is now Wakayama Prefecture, and it became the third station on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage route links thirty-three temples, each associated with a form of Kannon, and Kokawa-dera's position near the start of the circuit gave it a prominent place in the devotional geography of western Japan.

The temple's later history is bound up with the Tendai school, to which it belongs. Its principal image, the Senjū Kannon, has been kept hidden throughout its recorded history, and the practice of concealing it — down to burying it underground beneath the main hall — shaped how the temple has been maintained and how its rituals are conducted.

What Stands There Today

The temple complex includes several distinct structures and sites. Among them is the Jūzenritsu-in Temple (十善律院, じゅうぜんりついん), which is also recorded as a location referenced by Kokawa-dera. The grounds contain the Kokawa-dera Temple Garden, and the site also includes Kokawa Ubusuna Shrine (粉河産土神社), a Shinto shrine associated with the temple — a pairing of Buddhist temple and tutelary shrine that is common in Japanese religious sites.

The main hall shelters the underground container holding the principal image. The omaetachi statue stands in front of the principal image's altar, itself kept hidden except during the annual cleaning on 31 December.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name in Japanese is 粉河寺.

• Kana reading: こかわでら
• Romaji: Kokawa-dera

Broken down character by character:

• 粉 — read here as ko. The character means "flour" or "powder." In this name it functions phonetically as part of the place name Kokawa rather than carrying its literal meaning.
• 河 — read here as kawa. The character means "river." Written alone it is read kawa, and it appears in countless Japanese place names; here it names the river that runs through the area.
• 寺 — read here as dera. The character means "Buddhist temple." It is the standard element attached to temple names across Japan; the same character is read tera in many other temple names, with dera appearing after certain sounds.

So the name as a whole means "Kokawa Temple," with 粉河 (Kokawa) naming the locality and 寺 (dera) identifying it as a Buddhist temple. The full temple name, Kazaragi-san Kokawa-dera (風猛山 粉河寺), adds a sangō (山号, さんごう) — a mountain name prefixed to the temple's name in the traditional manner. 風猛山 is read Kazaragi-san.

Visiting and Context

Kokawa-dera sits in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, at coordinates roughly 34.28° north, 135.41° east. It is the third of the thirty-three temples of the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a route that has drawn pilgrims for centuries and that remains one of Japan's best-known devotional circuits.

For a visitor, the temple's most striking feature is what cannot be seen. Both the principal image and its substitute stand hidden, and the principal image lies buried beneath the main hall. The single annual moment when the omaetachi is uncovered — 31 December, for cleaning by monks — is closed to the public. The temple is therefore a place where the central object of devotion is present but never displayed, a practice rooted in the hibutsu tradition of Japanese Buddhism.

The presence of Kokawa Ubusuna Shrine within the temple grounds reflects the long intertwining of Buddhist and Shinto practice at the site. Together with the Jūzenritsu-in Temple and the Kokawa-dera Temple Garden, these elements make up the complex as it stands today in Kinokawa.