Oka-dera

Quick facts

Address

806 Oka, Asuka, Takaichi, Nara

About this place

Oka-dera is in Asuka, Nara. By the temple’s own transmission it was founded roughly 1,300 years ago by the priest Gien, on the vow of Emperor Tenji. Gien was held to be a child granted by Kannon; Emperor Tenji took the child in, and he was raised at the Oka palace alongside Prince Kusakabe (662–689). In 703 he became the first man in Japan to hold the rank of sojo, and held the office for twenty-five years afterwards. The name Ryugai-ji is transmitted from an evil dragon that was ravaging Asuka and afflicting the farmers: Gien sealed it in a pond by the power of the Law, put a great stone lid over it, and brought it to repentance. The temple calls itself the first site in Japan for warding off misfortune and the seventh station of the Saikoku pilgrimage, and its list of prayers begins with warding off misfortune.

Origin and history

By the temple’s own transmission, Oka-dera was founded roughly 1,300 years ago by the priest Gien, on the vow of Emperor Tenji.

Gien was held to be a child granted by Kannon. Emperor Tenji took the child in, and he was raised at the Oka palace alongside Prince Kusakabe (662–689). In 703 he became the first man in Japan to hold the rank of sojo, and held the office for twenty-five years.

The name Ryugai-ji is transmitted from an evil dragon that was ravaging Asuka and afflicting the farmers. Gien sealed it in a pond by the power of the Law, put a great stone lid over it, and brought it to repentance.

What it is locally associated with

• Power spotProtection & SafetyHealth & HealingExams & StudyFertility & Children

  The first misfortune-warding site in Japan

  The temple calls itself the first site in Japan for warding off misfortune and the seventh Saikoku station; its prayers begin with warding off misfortune.

  documented history

• Origin

  A child granted by Kannon

  Gien was held to be a child granted by Kannon; Emperor Tenji took him in and had him raised at the Oka palace beside Prince Kusakabe.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  The temple of the lid on the dragon

  Gien sealed an evil dragon in a pond by the power of the Law and covered it with a great stone, whence the name Ryugai-ji.

  folk tradition

This temple calls itself the first site in Japan for warding off misfortune. Its list of prayers begins there too — warding off misfortune, then dispelling plague, safety in traffic, safety in the household, bodily soundness, safe childbirth, recovery from illness, long life free of calamity, a good match, the fulfilment of a wish, success in study, prosperity in business, passing an entrance examination. Getting rid of bad luck comes first.

The man who opened it, Gien, was held to be a child granted by Kannon. Emperor Tenji took the child in and had him raised at the Oka palace beside Prince Kusakabe — a monk brought up alongside a prince, who later became the first man in Japan to hold the rank of sojo.

Its other name records an incident. Ryugai-ji means the temple of the lid on the dragon: an evil dragon ravaging Asuka and afflicting the farmers, sealed in a pond by the power of the Law and covered with a great stone until it repented.

The temple is also the seventh station of the Saikoku pilgrimage. Hase-dera, on this same list, is the founding site of that circuit of thirty-three Kannon. Two temples here stand on the same pilgrimage road.

Related guides

• How to visit a shrine or temple in JapanThe country-wide basics: purifying at the water basin, the two-bows-two-claps-one-bow form at shrines, and what temples do instead.
• 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.
• Omamori, ema, omikuji and goshuinThe four things you are most likely to receive, write, draw or be given at a shrine or temple, what each is actually for, and the one of them people most often get wrong.

Sources

1. 岡寺の歴史 — Oka-dera (accessed 2026-08-15)
2. 厄除け・ご祈祷のご案内 — Oka-dera (accessed 2026-08-15)