Adashino Nenbutsu-ji

Place: Kyoto, Japan

Place: Kyoto, Japan

Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple was built during the Heian period (794-1183), which is considered a high point in Japanese culture because it was a time of peace and security.

Adashino means “place of sorrow” and it was there that Buddhist priest Kukai (Great Priest Kobo) built this temple to give proper burial to the unclaimed deceased of Kyoto, then the capital city of Japan.

For hundreds of years Adashino was an unorganized place of the dead. Funerary rituals during this time varied by class, religious, and tribal traditions. Funeral mounds, for example, were common during the Kofun period (250-600). During the Heian period, Adashino consisted of many different burial methods.

One method was open graves or “aerial sepulture”. The wrapped remains of Kyoto’s poor and those without friends or family, were taken to the northeastern foothills of Ogurayama Mountain. There, the remains were left exposed to the elements.

Kukai labored to bring cohesion to Adashino and built Nyorai-ji Temple, which is "dedicated to the scattered souls of those who died with no one to attend their graves.” He collected all of the remains and the grave markers, already weathered and illegible from hundreds of years of exposure. It is said that 8,000 Buddhas and tombstones are on the site today that previously were strewn around the region.

In August, the temple holds a ceremony called "Sento Kuyo" or The Service of a Thousand Lights, a Buddhist tradition held in late summer. Held at dusk, locals dressed in summer kimono light thousands of votive candles that are placed on the Buddhas to pay respect to the anonymous dead and to the fleeting season.

Adashino Nenbutsu-ji is located in Ukyo Ward, a part of Kyoto full of old world charm. In addition to the stunning repetition of the Buddhas and stone pagodas, it also includes a modern cemetery and a bamboo forest.