Bandō Sanjūsankasho

The nihongo|Bandō Sanjūsankasho|坂東三十三箇所 ("The 33 Bandō Temples") is a series of 33 Buddhist temples in Eastern Japan sacred to Goddess KannonJapanese Wikipedia] . Bandō is the old name for what is now the Kantō regionDonald Richie] , used in this case because the temples are all in the Prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Tokyo, Gunma, Ibaraki, 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 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 1300km 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 =

Number 1 - Sugimotodera, Kanagawa
Number 2 - Ganden-ji, Kanagawa
Number 3 - An'yo-in, Kanagawa
Number 4 - Hasedera, Kanagawa
Number 5 - Shōfuku-ji, Kanagawa
Number 6 - Hasedera, Kanagawa
Number 7 - Kōmyō-ji, Kanagawa
Number 8 - Shōkoku-ji, Kanagawa
Number 9 - Jikō-ji, Saitama
Number 10 - Shōbō-ji, Saitama
Number 11 - Anraku-ji, Saitama
Number 12 - Jion-ji, Saitama
Number 13 - Sensō-ji, Tokyo
Number 14 - Gumyō-ji, Kanagawa
Number 15 - Chōkoku-ji, Gunma
Number 16 - Mizusawadera, Gunma
Number 17 - Manganji, Tochigi
Number 18 - Chūzen-ji, Tochigi
Number 19 - Ōya-ji, Tochigi
Number 20 - Saimyo-ji, Tochigi
Number 21 - Nichirin-ji, Ibaraki
Number 22 - Satakedera, Ibaraki
Number 23 - Kanzeon-ji, Ibaraki
Number 24 - Rakuhō-ji, Ibaraki
Number 25 - Ōmi-dō, Ibaraki
Number 26 - Kiyotaki-ji, Ibaraki
Number 27 - Enpuku-ji, Chiba
Number 28 - Ryushō-in, Chiba
Number 29 - Chibadera, Chiba
Number 30 - Kōzō-ji, Chiba
Number 31 - Kasamori-ji, Chiba
Number 32 - Kiyomizudera, Chiba
Number 33 - Nagodera, Chiba

Notes

References

* [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20000229dr.html Donald Richie. Pilgrimage for the 21st century] accessed on April 17, 2008 en icon
* Iso Mutsu. " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0804819688 Kamakura: Fact and Legend] ', Tuttle Publishing (1995/06) ISBN 0804819688 en icon
* Article "Bandō Sanjūsankasho", Japanese Wikipedia, accessed on April 17, 2008 ja icon

External links

* [http://www.bandou.gr.jp/ The Circuit's site] ja icon