Thought by many to be the Kanto region’s most impressive temple, Kawasaki Daishi is the Head Temple of the Chisan sect of Shingon Buddhism.  It is also the third most visited temple in Japan during the New Year Holiday, when almost three million people crowd into the temple grounds over the first few days of the year to pray for prosperity and health in the coming months.

The temple’s principal object of devotion is a statue of Kukai, a famous monk also known by the posthumous name Kobo Daishi.  Kukai is a towering figure in Japanese history and legend, a renaissance man who traveled to China in 804 to study Buddhism before returning to Japan to found Shingon Buddhism, establish temples throughout the country, write poetry and even serve briefly as a civil engineer in the restoration of a reservoir that survives to the present day.

 The temple has an interesting legend attached to its origins.  Early in the 12th century, a samurai named Hirama Kanenori was falsely accused of wrongdoing and sentenced to exile.  After a period of wandering through eastern Japan, he settled in Kawasaki and took up the simple life of a fisherman.  Kanenori was a deeply religious man, especially devoted to Kukai.  As Kanenori entered his 42nd year, an age traditionally thought to be fraught with peril for men, he began to pray in earnest for deliverance from misfortune.  One night, Kukai appeared in a dream and revealed the location of a statue of himself which had been cast into the sea.  Kanenori took his boat out onto the sea and cast his net into a patch of glittering water, and as had been promised he hauled in a wooden image of the famous monk.  Some time afterward, an itinerant priest named Sonken stopped by Kanenori’s house by chance and wept when he saw the statue.  In 1128, according to the official story, Kanenori and Sonken established Kawasaki Daishi Temple.



　Today Kawasaki Daishi is a must see for travelers who find themselves in Kawasaki City, for whatever reason.  The many buildings housed in the complex are impressive, though the temple was heavily bombed in the Second World War and very little of the original structures remains.  Still, like most Shingon temples, Kawasaki Daishi is a feast for the senses, with massive halls, a five story pagoda, swirling clouds of incense, the sound of chanting throughout the day and, for several days in late July, the tinkling of thousands of wind-bells. The temple is especially well known for its Goma ritual, in which sacred wooden planks are burned by priests to protect worshipers from the baleful influences attached to certain ages of life, especially 25 and 42 for men, 19 and 33 for women, and 60 for both.  Far from being simply a tourist attraction, one of the most charming things about Kawasaki Daishi is that it remains a vital part of the life of Kawasaki, disseminating Buddhist culture and teachings through regular rituals, various styles of performance, Sunday school for local children, and classes in the tea ceremony, Buddhist chant, ikebana and more.  If you want to see living Buddhism in an impressive and lively setting, Kawasaki Daishi is a good place to go looking.


●Kawasaki Daishi Heikenji Temple
>>Access
4-48 Daishi-machi, Kawasaki-ku Kawasaki,
Kanagawa

JR Kawasaki station====(15 min. by bus bound for Kawasaki Daishi)====(8 min. on foot)====Kawasaki Daishi

>>Website
Kawasaki Daishi (English)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-Matt Mangham

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