Nanzo-in

Quick facts

Address

1035 Sasaguri, Sasaguri, Kasuya, Fukuoka

About this place

Nanzo-in is in Sasaguri, Fukuoka. The Sasaguri Shikoku pilgrimage, opened in the Tenpo era of the Edo period, was struck in 1886 by the movement to abolish Buddhism, and the prefectural governor issued an order abolishing the sacred sites. Afterwards, on the petition of local people, Nanzo-in was invited from Mount Koya in September 1899 and the pilgrimage was allowed to continue. In 1988 the temple received relics of three Buddhas from the Buddhist council of Myanmar. The reclining Buddha was built as the place to house those relics and was completed in May 1995. Among bronzes it is one of the largest in the world, forty-one metres long, eleven metres high and weighing some three hundred tonnes. In June of that year the twenty-third head priest, Hayashi Kakujo, won first prize and its adjacent prizes in the jumbo lottery, a hundred and thirty million yen, and this became talked about as a benefit of the reclining Buddha.

Origin and history

The Sasaguri Shikoku pilgrimage, opened in the Tenpo era of the Edo period, was struck in 1886 by the movement to abolish Buddhism, and the prefectural governor issued an order abolishing the sacred sites. Afterwards, on the petition of local people, Nanzo-in was invited from Mount Koya in September 1899 and the pilgrimage was allowed to continue.

In 1988 the temple received relics of three Buddhas from the Buddhist council of Myanmar. The reclining Buddha was built as the place to house those relics and was completed in May 1995. Among bronzes it is one of the largest in the world, forty-one metres long, eleven metres high and weighing some three hundred tonnes.

In June of that year the twenty-third head priest, Hayashi Kakujo, won first prize and its adjacent prizes in the jumbo lottery, a hundred and thirty million yen, and this became talked about as a benefit of the reclining Buddha.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  An order to abolish, and a petition

  In 1886 the governor ordered the pilgrimage’s sacred sites abolished; on local petition, Nanzo-in was invited from Mount Koya in 1899 and it was allowed to continue.

  documented history

• Power spot

  A statue made to hold relics

  Relics of three Buddhas were received from the Buddhist council of Myanmar in 1988, and the reclining Buddha was built to house them, completed in May 1995.

  documented history

• What people do here

  Forty-one metres of bronze

  Among bronzes it is one of the largest in the world: forty-one metres long, eleven metres high, some three hundred tonnes.

  documented history

This temple writes down the time it nearly ceased to exist. The Sasaguri Shikoku pilgrimage, opened in the Tenpo era, was struck in 1886 by the movement to abolish Buddhism and the governor ordered its sacred sites abolished; then, on the petition of local people, Nanzo-in was invited from Mount Koya in 1899 and the pilgrimage was allowed to continue. Nearly erased by administration, restored by the people who lived there. Saidai-ji in Nara records its own lapse, Tamaki Shrine its renaming at the separation of gods and buddhas, and Kurama-dera in Kyoto its reorganisation of belief.

The great statue came afterwards. In 1988 relics of three Buddhas arrived from the Buddhist council of Myanmar, and the reclining Buddha was built as the place to house them. The relics did not come to an existing statue; the statue was made to hold what had been entrusted. It was finished in May 1995, forty-one metres long and some three hundred tonnes.

The temple also adds what happened the following month. The twenty-third head priest won a hundred and thirty million yen in the jumbo lottery, and this became talked about as a benefit of the reclining Buddha. The temple is not claiming it as a benefit it offers; it is recording what people said. This page keeps to that, reporting it as something that was talked about, and carries no tag for what may be prayed for.

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• What a "power spot" actually isA modern Japanese coinage, not a traditional religious category. Where the word came from, what it does and does not claim, and why this site uses it anyway.
• Shrine or temple?A shrine is Shinto and a temple is Buddhist, and you can usually tell at the gate. Why the line is cleaner on paper than on the ground, and what a government order in 1868 has to do with it.
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Sources

1. 南蔵院について — Nanzo-in (accessed 2026-08-15)