HASE TEMPLE

Hase Temple also known as the Kaikozan Hase-dera is one of the great Buddhist temples in Kamakura. Hase Temple houses a massive wooden statue of Kannon.

Hase Temple, formally known as Kaikozan Jishōin Hase-dera (海光山慈照院長谷寺) (also known as the Hase Kannon Temple) is one of the great Buddhist temples in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, famous for housing a massive wooden statue of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy). The temple is the fourth of the 33 stations of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage circuit dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten.

Hase Temple originally belonged to the Tendai sect of Buddhism, but eventually became an independent temple of the Jōdo shū sect.

Kaikozan Statue

The statue is one of the largest wooden statues in Japan, with a height of 9.18 metres (30.1 ft), and is made from camphor wood and gilded in gold. It has 11 heads, each of which represents a different phase in the search for enlightenment.

According to legend, the statue is one of two images of Kannon carved by a monk named Tokudō in 721. The camphor tree was so large, according to legend, that he decided that he could carve two statues with it. One was enshrined in Hase-dera in the city of Nara, Yamato Province, while the other was set adrift in the sea to find the place that it had a karmic connection with. It washed ashore on Nagai Beach on the Miura Peninsula near Kamakura in the year 736. The statue was immediately brought to Kamakura where a temple was built to honor it.

Hase Temple also commands an impressive view over Kamakura’s bay and is famous for its hydrangeas, which bloom along the Hydrangea Path in June and July. Hase Temple is built on two levels and also includes an underground cave. The cave, called benten kutsu cave, contains a long winding tunnel with a low ceiling and various statues and devotionals to Benzaiten, the sea goddess and the only female of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology.

Kaikozan Hase-dera is also part of the Kamakura pilgrimage circuit, also consisting of 33 sites, and is station 4 of the 33 temples of the Kantō Pilgrimage.

Kamakura Tours

Organised tours from Tokyo to Kamakura are available. These tours also include the Great Buddha at Kotokuin Temple, Hase Kannon Temple, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and Komachi Shopping Street. Further information and online booking are here.

Getting to Kaikozan Hase-dera

See our section on Kamakura transport.

(Article based on Wikipedia article and used under the GNU Free Documentation License)