Hachiyōji Temple

Overview

Hachiyōji Temple is a Shingon Buddhist temple located in Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture. Its mountain name is Shoryūzan, and it's also known as Aizu Sōbōsho and Aizu Kōyasan. Tradition holds that it was founded in 964 by Kūya Shonin, who built a hall to enshrine Amitābha Buddha and scriptures. The temple grounds include the Amitābha Hall as the main hall, the Jūōdō (Hall of Ten Kings) to the right, and the Kūya-dō (Kūya Hall) housing a statue of Kūya Shonin to the left, with the Okunoin (inner sanctuary) further back. Other structures within the grounds include the Niomon gate, Kūya Spring, a bell tower, and a pond said to have once resembled an eight-petaled lotus flower, giving the temple its name. The Amitābha Hall has a 3-ken span (approx. 5.4 meters) in both directions, a single-story thatched gabled roof, and a gable-end entrance. In 1904, it was designated a Special Protected Structure (former National Treasure) under the Old Temples and Shrines Preservation Law, and after the enactment of the Cultural Properties Protection Law in 1950, it became an Important Cultural Property of Japan. In the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, from August 1st to 7th, before Obon (August 13th-16th), a custom called "Fuyukizawa Mairi" is widely observed, where people visit Hachiyōji Temple to welcome the spirits of the deceased. Based on the belief that the spirits of the deceased return home or to their graves via the temple during Obon, people visit Hachiyōji Temple beforehand to welcome them. Wooden prayer tablets inscribed with the names (kaimyo or homyo) of the deceased and the names of those welcoming them are erected in the Okunoin. Family members also bring the teeth, bones, nails, and hair of their deceased relatives (kept beforehand) to enshrine in small wooden five-ringed stupas and dedicate them to the temple. This custom, known as Fuyukizawa Mairi, was selected as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property requiring measures for record creation in 2010, and is now a registered Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The 14,824 small ossuary tablets and ossuaries donated since the Bunroku period are designated as Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Also, the Kūya Nenbutsu Odori, a devotional dance performed annually on August 5th in front of the Kūya-dō, is designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Fukushima Prefecture.