Wakasa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

     Wakasa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 1982.

     I first visited Wakasa a couple decades ago.  I was on my way from #29 Matsunoo-dera Temple to #30 Hogon-ji Temple of Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  I had heard that the water of the Omizutori ceremony in Todai-ji Temple, Nara, is mystically sent from Wakasa. The Omizutori ceremony is held on March 12. Previously, on March 2, a ceremony is held in Wakasa.  The hearsay took me to Wakasa.  In those years, the highway wasn’t built yet, nor the guide boards were’t fully installed yet.  I fumbled about for the spot.  That, however, made me all the happier to find the spot, and the memory still lingers on me.

     The spot was along Onyu River, south-east from Obama City.  The river led me to Wakasa-Hime and Wakasa-Hiko Shrines first.  I made my way into the ravine and reached Unose to find a small torii, a Shinto shrine gate.  A passerby local told me that was it.  It didn’t impress me so much at the time.

     This time, they had an information desk with a tiny museum.  The display showed that Wakasa-Hiko Shrine has its temple, Jingu-ji Temple, whose buddhism priest administers the ceremony to send water to Nara from Wakasa.  Local people hold up a torch with their hand.  The priest holds a religious rites to send water to Nara at the Unose riverbank.  The priest recites the ritual prayer to send water and floats it on the river.  The photos actually left me a deep impression.  Little wonder the well from which the water is taken drawn in Todai-ji Temple is called the Wakasa Well.

     That is a myth-like legend born in the 8th century.  It is hardly believable that the water from Onyu River flows underground for about 90 kilometers to Nara.  However, many thin wooden strips used to write on in ancient times have been unearthed in the Heijo-kyo Capital ruins, saying that countless tributes were sent to the Yamato Imperial Court from Wakasa Province.  Many people immigrated from the Korean Peninsula and Primorsky to Wakasa, and that enabled the province to provide Buddhist priests and engineers to Nara.  The construction of Todai-ji Temple might never have been completed without their support and efforts.  That might have been the context behind the Wakasa Well legend.