The ("The Bandō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage") is a series of 33

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

s in Eastern Japan sacred to Goddess

Kannon Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She w ...

. Bandō is the old name for what is now the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Sl ...

,Donald Richie used in this case because the temples are all in the Prefectures of

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

, Saitama,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima P ...

Ibaraki Ibaraki may refer to any of the following places in Japan: * Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan **Ibaraki, Ibaraki, a town in Ibaraki Prefecture **Ibaraki Airport, an airport in Omitama, Ibaraki **Ibaraki dialect, the dialect sp ...

, Tochigi and Chiba. As is the case with all such circuits, each location has a rank, and pilgrims believe that visiting them all in order is an act of great religious merit. Started by

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

and his son Sanetomo, the Bandō Sanjūsankasho is just one of 70 different Kannon pilgrimage circuits existing in Japan, each including 33 temples because the Goddess is believed to have 33 different manifestations. Sugimoto-dera in Kamakura is number one, Zushi's Gandenji's is number two, An'yō-in in Kamakura is the number three, the famous Hasedera in Hase number four, and so on. From its beginning at Sugimotodera to its end in Chiba's Nagodera, the circuit is over 1300 km long. Even though women were allowed to pray at individual temples, the circuit was originally reserved to male pilgrims. Now however most of the pilgrims are women. Pilgrims leave behind a slip of paper or a sticker as a proof of their visit, and many of these can be seen plastered on temple walls and pillars.Iso Mutsu

The 33 temples of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho circuit

Notes

References

Donald Richie. Pilgrimage for the 21st century
accessed on April 17, 2008 * Iso Mutsu. ''Kamakura: Fact and Legend', Tuttle Publishing (1995/06)

External links

The Circuit's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bando Sanjusankasho Buddhist temples in Kanagawa Prefecture Buddhist temples in Ibaraki Prefecture Buddhist temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa Buddhist pilgrimages Japanese pilgrimages

The 33 temples of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho circuit

See also

Notes

References

External links