Virtual Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Nakayama-dera Temple

 

     Emperor Nakatarshi and his first wife, Onakatsu, had 2 sons, Princes Kagosaka and Oshikuma, but Nakatarashi and his second wife, Okinagatarashi, had Homutawake (?-394), who succeeded Nakatarashi, pushing his half elder brothers away.  Emperor Homutawake enshrined the spirits of the 2 princes in the cave where Nakayama-dera Temple's Inner Sanctuary is located.  Nakatarashi had another prince, Homuyawake, whose mother is unknown.  Homutawake didn't feel it necessary to enshrine the spirit of Homuyawake.  Suppose the reasons as you please.  Some say Okinagatarashi killed the 2 princes in battle in Omi Province.

     Nakayama-dera Temple was later founded by Prince Shotoku (574-622) to appease the spirits of Mononobe Moriya (?-587), who was an opponent of Buddhism, and who was defeated by Soga Umako (551-626) and Shotoku, as well as Onakatsu, Kagosaka, and Oshikuma.  The original site of the temple is where the temple's Inner Sanctuary is currently located.  Its original worship hall was built to incorporate the cave where the spirit of Oshikuma is enshrined.  It is Japan's first temple to enshrine the god that causes misfortune.

     The temple's main deity is the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue.  The statue is said to be a copy of Vajira or Vajirakumari, who was a daughter of King Pasenadi and Queen Mallika of the Kingdom of Kosala in India, and who is said to have written the Srimaladevi Simhanada Sutra.  Shotoku is believed to have been an advocate of the sutra.  Vajirakumari and Shotoku were both lay Buddhists.  The statue is said to have been brought over from India.  The attendant deities on the left and right are also Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha, making it a total of 33 faces.  This temple is the 24th of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and the 33-faced statues are said to encompass the pilgrimage as well as represent the 33 manifestations of Avalokitesvara described in the Lotus Sutra Chapter XXV.  It is said that worshiping the statues guarantees to receive the same merit as making pilgrimage to the 33 temples.

     For your information, according to Lotus Sutra Chapter XXV, Avalokitesvara, to save people, manifest herself/himself/itself: #1 into the form of a buddha, #2 into the form of a pratyekabuddha, #3 into the form of a sravaka, #4 into the form of Brahma, #5 into the form of Sakra, #6 into the form of isvara, #7 into the form of Mahesvara, #8 into the form of the great commander of the devas, #9 into the form of Vaisravana, #10 into the form of a minor king, #11 into the form of a wealthy man, #12 into the form of a householder, #13 into the form of a state official, #14 into the form of a brahman, #15 into the form of a monk, #16 into the form of a nun, #17 into the form of a layman, #18 into the form of a  laywoman, #19 into the form of a wife of a wealthy man, #20 into the form of a wife of a householder, #21 into the form of a wife of a state official, #22 into the form of a wife of a brahman, #23 into the form of a boy, #24 into the form of a girl, #25 into the form of a deva, #26 into the form of naga, #27 into the form of yaksa, #28 into the form of gandharva, #29 into the form of asura, #30 into the form of garuda, #31 into the form of kimnara, #32 into the form of mahoraga, or #33 into the form of Vajrapani. Many of the forms, or manifestations, are an enumeration of occupations at the time of Buddha.  Thus most of the 33 manifestations haven't been carved into Buddhism statues or painted in Buddhism pictures in Japan.  Instead, the number 33 came to mean a lot to Avalokitesvara believers in Japan.

Address: 2 Chome-11-1 Nakayamadera, Takarazuka, Hyogo 665-8588

Phone: 0797-87-0024