Virtual Kawabe 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Saimyo-ji Temple

 

     Saimyo-ji Temple was founded sometime between 1185 and 1190, when the teachings of Honen (1133-1212) not only became popular among ordinary people but also were accepted by Buddhist intellectuals.

     Honen was the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan.  In 1207, Honen was exiled to Tosa Province.  On his way from Kyoto to the province, he took a boat through the Yodo River from Toba Port to Kanzaki Port.  Kanzaki Port thrived as an intersection between the Yodo-River water transportation and the transport along the Seto Inland Sea, and its entertainment district was the largest in Japan those days.

     In Kanzaki, Honen made a sermon.  Listening to the sermon, 5 prostitutes drowned themselves in the river, ashamed of being sinful.

     On his way back to Kyoto in 1211, Honen carved girders of Yuriage Bridge, which used to be over the river around today's Kanzaki Bridge, into the images of himself and Shandao (613–681), a Chinese Buddhist scholar monk and an influential figure of East Asian Pure Land Buddhism.  Honen’s disciple, Tanjo, enshrined the images and the hair of the prostitutes.  The Shando image and the hair were lost by the 20th century.

     In front of the temple gate, a stone monument, which is dated 1714, stands.  According to the statue, the temple still had the images of Honen and Shandao.

Address: 6-chome-11-28 Kema, Amagasaki, Hyogo 661-0982

Phone: 06-6491-7543

Kanzaki Bridge

Address: Nishiyodogawa Ward, Osaka, 555-0001