Oyaji Temple

Located in Ishi-no-Sato, this is a very rare temple surrounded by natural caves. This temple was built on the site of an ancient cave dwelling, and is known as one of the best cave temples in Japan.

Inside the mysterious main hall are 10 beautiful Buddha images carved into the natural rock walls. All of these Buddha statues are designated as national special historic sites and important cultural properties.
Magaibutsu are a type of stone Buddha, and are statues of Buddha carved into natural rock walls, exposed rocks, or boulders.

Of particular note is the 4-meter-high statue of Senju Kannon (Thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy), also known as Otani Kannon, carved into a tuff rock wall, which is the main image of Otani Temple. It is believed to be the oldest stone Buddha in Japan, and was created by Kobo Daishi in 810 during the Heian period.

During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), it was the 19th sacred site in the Bando region and was revered by many people. It was first carved directly on the surface of a rock, decorated with red vermilion lacquer and fine clay ornaments, then finished with lacquer, and gilded with gold leaf on the outermost surface to give it a golden color.

The statue of the thousand-armed Kannon has a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. There are also eyes on the palms of the hands, constantly watching over us.

In the cave of Otani Temple, traces of Jomon-era people living in ancient yokoana dwellings have been found, and in the adjoining Treasure House, artifacts found in the yokoana dwellings, estimated to be human bones from the Jomon period dating back about 11,000 years, are on display.

Due to its historical value and cultural importance, Otani Magaibutsu has also been designated as a special national historic site.

Otani Temple is located in Otani-machi, Utsunomiya City, and is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism. The temple name is Tengeizan and the temple name is Jodoin. The main deity is the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and the temple is known as the 19th of the 33 sacred places of the Kannon in the Bando region.

The Otani Magaibutsu, stone-centered plastic statues built on the wall of a cave on the southwest side of the tuff mountain, consists of four sets of ten stone-centered plastic statues of the Senju Kannon, Shakyamuni, Yakushi, and Amitabha, divided into four sections.

Considered to be stone statues of great academic value, they are designated as national special historic sites and important cultural properties.

History

Otani Temple is a famous cave temple in Japan. The hall is built in a cave in the Otani tuff layer. Its principal image is a 4.5-meter-high thousand-armed Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) carved into the tuff rock face, commonly known as the “Otani Kannon.

It is estimated that the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara was built in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185) and flourished as a place of worship for the local residents, based on the fact that traces of Jomon period people’s lives can be found in the area around the temple (Otani Iwanin site) and a tradition that Kukai (Kobo Daishi) carved the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara and opened a temple in 810 (Konin 1 year). It is estimated that Senju Kannon was built in the mid-Heian period and flourished as a place of worship for local residents.

It is believed that by the end of the Heian period (794-1185), most of the major Buddhist cliffs that remain today were completed, and in the early Kamakura period (1185-1333), the Kamakura Shogunate designated the temple as the first of the 33 temples in the Bando region.

During the Kamakura period, Otani Temple is believed to have prospered under the protection of the Shimono-Utsunomiya clan, who were the priests of the Utsunomiya shrine and powerful retainers of the Kamakura shogunate.

Excavations at Otani Temple in 1965 unearthed a suspended Buddha from the Kamakura period, a sutra stone dedicated in 1363, and a bronze bowl inscribed with the year 1551. However, the temple declined temporarily when the Shimono-Utsunomiya clan was reexiled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

However, in the Edo period (1603-1868), after Okudaira Tadamasa was reappointed as the 29th lord of Utsunomiya Castle, Denkai, a disciple of Jigen Daishi Tenkai, rebuilt the hall with the assistance of the feudal lord Tadamasa.

Monk Tenkai trained at Koukawa-ji Temple under Utsunomiya Castle during the Tenmon period, and after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, he also rebuilt the halls of Kan-eiji Temple in Ueno and Mount Nikko with the assistance of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the shoguns that followed.

Later, during the Hoei era (1704-1818), the temple received support from various lords for the construction of new halls, but many of them were destroyed by fires that broke out later in the year.