The Kasadera Kannon, Ryufukuji Temple, is the last temple of Owari 4 Kannons.
(1)Arako Kannon, (2)Ryusenji Kannon, (3)Jimokuji Kannon, and (4)Kasadera Kannon
The Kasadera Kannon is located in South-southeast direction from the Nagoya Castle, “Kimon”.
In the 8th century, a log was drifted to a beach in Yobitsugi. The log was giving out a mysterious light and people were scared. God revealed it to a monk, Zenko, living near the beach that this log is sacred. Zenko carved an eleven-faced kannon Bodhisattva with it and established a temple called Komatsudera Temple in 736. After around 200 years passed, the temple was devastated and the hall was collapsed. As the result, the Kannon statue was exposed to wind and rain. One raining day, a girl living around there saw the Kannon statue wet and felt sorry for him and gave her hat “Kasa” to him.
This activity might lead her to luck. When a son of Mr. Mototsune Fujiwara who is “Kanpaku”, a chief adviser to the Emperor regent visited this area, he saw this girl and felt in love with at first sight with her. His name is Kanehira Fujiwara. He decided to marry her and he named her as Tamateru-hime.
The Kannon statue made a good match and got them together. In 930, both Tamateru-hime and Kenehira Fujiwara established a big temple there thanks to the Kannon statue. The Kannon statue has her hat on his head. They named this temple as “Ryufukuji” Temple. “Ryu” means the hat, “Kasa”, “fuku” means “wear”, and “ji” means temple.
Based on this story, the Ryufukuji Temple is known to help finding a marriage partner and to rid people from bad luck.
If you have a chance to visit Nagoya, Japan, I recommend you to visit those Owari 4 Kannons.
Comments