Virtual Kako County Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Gokuraku-ji Temple

 

     The exact foundation date of Gokuraku-ji Temple remains unknown. It sits in a unique temple district alongside Jurin-ji Temple—which reportedly dates back to 815 and serves as the 3rd station of the Kako Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage—and Enmei-ji Temple, the 2nd station of the Kako Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage. Geographically, the Kako Bando route seems to complete a large, figure-eight-like loop at Gokuraku-ji (the 23rd station), before leading just 300 meters east to the 24th station, Gyoja-do Hall.

     The history of Gyoja-do Hall is also lost to time. Today, the building resembles a pre-WWII private house and appears virtually abandoned. Confronted with the sudden disappearance of the subsequent stations (#25 through #33), I am left to consider two hypotheses:

The pilgrimage was never fully completed: The Kako Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage may have originally launched with only about twenty-four stations or less, with the intention of expanding the network over time. However, their efforts likely stalled at the 24th station, possibly due to the economic devastation of the 1929 Great Depression, which struck shortly after the pilgrimage's establishment in the Taisho era (1912-1926).

The remaining stations were lost to modernization: The pilgrimage did once include stations #25 through #33, which consisted of small, community-maintained local halls. Since Gyoja-do (#24) was situated at the edge of the historic port town, the route would have continued east across the river—precisely where a massive industrial zone and urban sprawl rapidly expanded along the coastline after World War II, swallowing these modest structures in the process.

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