Nago-dera

Nago-dera 那古寺
Tahōtō of Nago-dera (1761)
Information
Mountain Name	Fudaraku-san
Denomination	Shingon Chizan Sect
Venerated	Senju Kannon
Founded	717 (?)
Founder(s)	Empress Genshō (?)
Founding priest	Gyōki (?)
Address	1125 Nago, Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture
Country	Japan
Portal:Buddhism

Nago-dera (那古寺^?) is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Tateyama in southern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The temple is also called "Nago-ji" using the alternate pronunciation of the final Chinese character in its name, or the "Nago Kannon", after its primary object of worship.

History

According to temple legend, Nago-dera was founded by the wandering holy ascetic Gyōki around 717 AD to pray for the recovery of Empress Genshō from an illness. However, no historical documents have survived to substantiate this legend, and the history of the temple is thus uncertain. Most of the temple was destroyed by a fire in 1703, and its oldest existing structures are its Hondō (1759) and Tahōtō pagoda (1761), both of which are registered as Chiba Prefectural Important Cultural Properties.

The temple currently belongs to the Shingon Chizan Sect of Japanese Buddhism, and its Gohonzon is a bronze Senju Kannon Bosatsu dating from the Kamakura period. This image is a national Important Cultural Property.

Nago-dera is the 33rd and last in the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, a pilgrimage circuit of 33 Buddhist temples in the Kantō region of eastern Japan dedicated to the Bodhisattva Kannon.

Sources

• Chibaken No Rekishi Sanpo (千葉県の歴史散歩: "Walking Chiba Prefecture's History"), Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1994. (Japanese)
• Entry on the Bandō Sanjūsankasho site (Japanese)

Preceded by Kiyomizu-dera #32

Bandō Sanjūsankasho Nago-dera #33

Succeeded by none

Coordinates: 35°01′30.05″N 139°51′27.52″E / 35.0250139°N 139.8576444°E / 35.0250139; 139.8576444