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

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Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Kami Daigō-ji (temple 11)

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

by Nakazawa Hiromitsu, 1946 (orig. 1925)

Illustrated Account of the Sino-Japanese War, Volume 7

IHL Cat. #2413.19

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

IHL Cat. #1859

About This Print

Kami Daigō-ji, a complex of some of the oldest temple buildings in Japan, is the upper precinct of Daigō-ji and is the 11th temple on the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage. Nakazawa presents us with a view of a shrine building with a sign on its post reading 西國第十一番靈場納経所 (Saigoku sanjūsan reijo nōkyō-sho), telling us were visiting the eleventh sacred place on the Saigoku pilgrimage and a donation of money or a sutra can be left. Off to the right we see a bluish stone marker leading the way to Iwama-dera 岩間寺, the 12th 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.

The Temple

Located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, on Kasatoriyama (Mt. Daigō), Kami Daigō-ji was founded in 874 by the scholar priest Shōbō (posthumously "Rigen-daishi"). It is closely associated with Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1537-1598) who was responsible for extensive renovation of the buildings in the sixteenth century. Daigō-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.

It is the only temple in Japan to feature the bodhisattva Kannon Juntei as its main enshrined image (honzon). Emperor Daigō is said to have prayed to this Kannon for the successful production of an heir, after which his wife gave birth to twin sons who each served as emperor in succession. The image is still thought to bring fertility and easy childbirth. Emperor Daigō entered the priesthood here after his abdication in 930.

In 1994, Daigō-ji was designated a World Cultural Heritage Site.

Juntei Hall was originally built in 866. But the present building was reconstructed in 1968.

The statue of Juntei Kannon to which the hall is dedicated is usually kept secret.

On 18th of May every year, however, the service ceremony called Gokaihi (Opening Door)

is held and the statue is opened to public for three days.

Caption and image source: https://www.daigoji.or.jp/garan/kami_garan_detail_e.html

The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (Saigoku sanjūsansho junrei)

Sources: website of cultural anthropologist Martin Gray http://www.taleofgenji.org/saigoku_pilgrimage.html and "Buddhist Pilgrim/Buddhist Exile: Old and New Images of Retired Emperor Kazan in the Saigoku Kannon Temple Guidebooks," Mark MacWilliams, appearing in History of Religions, May, 1995, Vol. 34, No. 4, The University of Chicago Press, p. 303-328.

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.