Amida-ji, Buddhist temple in Nachikatsuura, Japan

Amida-ji is a Shingon Omuro-ha temple on the slope of Mount Myoho, part of the Nachi mountains in Nachikatsuura. Its main hall, rebuilt in 1984 after a 1981 fire, stands below the summit hall called Oku-no-in, reached by a mountain path; the Daishi-do hall of 1507 lies along that route.

Tradition links the site to the monk Renjaku, who in 702 copied the Lotus Sutra and buried it on the summit, where a Shakyamuni image was placed. Records place the temple's certain existence from 1280, when Kakushin, founder of Kokoku-ji, restored it and established Pure Land practice and the memorial use of the mountain. A hall for Kobo Daishi was built on the path to the upper hall in 1509, and in 1601 the Asano lords of Shingu granted it five koku of rice. It became a Shingon temple in 1884; a 1981 fire destroyed the main hall and its Amida image, replaced in 1984.

The temple keeps the Kumano custom of bone and hair deposits for the dead, still practised today. Its bell is called the "one bell of the dead": legend says souls ring it on their way to Myōhō-san while the three gō of rice offered at a deathbed are still cooking. The temple's hymn to Amida hangs on the main hall facade.

The main hall is reached on foot: from the parking lot at the end of the Nachisan Skyline (Route 46) it is a 2-minute walk, while from the Nachi Station bus stop the stone steps past Seiganto-ji's bell tower lead up in about 1 hour. The route crosses uneven mountain ground, so wear suitable shoes.

The temple bell, recast in 1678, is called the "bell of the dead": tradition holds that the souls of the newly deceased visit Mount Myōhō to strike it while the three gō of rice offered at their pillow is still cooking. The temple also keeps the grave of the fire-samadhi ascetic Ōshō, whose self-immolation furnace site survives in the grounds.