Ishiyama-dera from the Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces

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Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Ishiyama-dera (temple 13)

from the Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces

by Nakazawa Hiromitsu, 1925

Illustrated Account of the Sino-Japanese War, Volume 7

IHL Cat. #2320

IHL Cat. #2413.21

(from the complete 1925 album of prints IHL Cat. #2413)

About This Print

Nakazawa focuses on the Wollastonite rock formations (formed when limestone are subjected to high temperature such as magma) upon which the temple is built and which gave the temple its name, Ishiyama-dera (Rock Mountain Temple). It is the thirteenth temple along the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

Along with his two traveling companions, the poet Ishikura Suiyō and the artist Akatsuka Chūichi, Nakazawa undertook this 600 mile pilgrimage in December 1923, only three months after the Great Kantō Earthquake devastated the Tokyo area.

For more information on their pilgrimage see the article Nakazawa Hiromitsu - Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces.

Wollastonite rock formations and Ishiyama-dera's pagoda

The Temple

Sources: The Hyoga Times http://www.hyogoajet.net/hyogotimes/category/columns/saigoku-kannon-pilgrimage/

Founded in around 749 by the Buddhist monk of the Kegon sect Rōben, Ishiyama-dera, located on the southern edge of Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture (previously known as Ōmi province), is the 13th temple on the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage route. It is famously the place where Murasaki Shikibu began to write the classic Tale of Genji on the night of the full moon, August 1004. To commemorate this event, the temple maintains a Genji Room with a life-size figure of the author at work.

The main enshrined image (honzon) of the temple is the bodhisattva Kannon Chokufūnihinyoirin.

The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei)

Japan's most famous pilgrimage, originating in the 11th century, encompasses 33 Buddhist temples in Western Japan (Kansai region) dedicated to Kannon (bodhisattva Avalokitasvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who hears the cries of the world and assists anyone in distress.

The 33 temples on the approximately 1,000 kilometer pilgrimage route correspond to Kannon's ability to take on 33 different forms. One hundred thousand pilgrims navigate the route in its entirety or part each year.

Note: For a listing of all 33 temples go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigoku_Kannon_Pilgrimage. To access an interactive map of the route and its temples go to https://www.thetempleguy.org/p/saigoku-33-kannon-route.html and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

About the "Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces"

First issued in 1925 and reprinted in 1946, the 1925 album contains 58 prints and the 1946 album 59 prints. For detailed discussion of the two editions and additional information on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage see this site's article Nakazawa Hiromitsu - Picture Album of the Thirty-Three Pilgrimage Places of the Western Provinces.