Virtual Old Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Butsunichi-an Temple

     Engaku-ji Temple was founded in 1282 by Hojo Tokimune (1251-1284), who was the practical ruler of Japan then.  He experienced the Mongolian Invasions of Japan in 1274 and in 1281 and built the temple to hold memorial service for the war dead of both the parties.

     Butsunichi-an Temple is a branch temple of Engaku-ji Temple, and, presumably, the body of Tokimune was buried beneath it.  The temple enshrines the statue of Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces, which was the guardian Buddhist image of Tokimune.

     After the fall of the Hojo Clan, the temple also declined.  In the latter half of the 16th century, when numerous warlords were competing with one another for power, with multiple alliances formed and dissolved, Priest Kakuin Shuin from the Later Hojo Clan revived it.

Address: 434 Yamanouchi, Kamakura, Kanagawa 247-0062

Phone: 0467-25-3562