Awa Kokubun-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Tokushima, Japan

Awakokubun-ji is a Buddhist temple and reijō, one of the 88 sacred sites of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, located in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku island. The grounds include a wooden main hall with curved roofs, a bell tower, and a paved courtyard lined with old trees.

The temple was founded in 741 by order of Emperor Shōmu as part of a network of provincial temples built across Japan to strengthen central rule. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries, and the current main hall dates from the early 19th century.

Awakokubun-ji is the 15th stop on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, a route that links 88 temples across the island, and pilgrims in white robes and straw hats pass through regularly. On the grounds, you can see incense burners, stacked wooden prayer tablets, and small offerings left by those making the journey.

The Tokushima bus stop Kokubunji-mae on the Ten-no-hara Nishi line is about 400 m from the temple. Free parking is available for ten ordinary cars; large vehicles cannot enter. The garden can be visited from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by asking at the nōkyōjo, the stamp office at the back right of the grounds.

The temple grounds preserve the foundation stones of a seven-story pagoda from the Nara period, when the complex followed the East Great Temple layout with a pagoda west of the main hall. The pagoda's central foundation stone was unearthed from a rice field southwest of the current precinct.