Iiyama Kannon, Buddhist pilgrimage temple in Atsugi, Japan.
Iiyama Kannon is a Buddhist temple in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, whose full name is Iiyama-san Nyoiri-in Chōkoku-ji. Its Kannon-dō hall has a square plan with five girders and five beams, and a copper-sheet roof that was formerly thatched; architectural details date it to the mid-Edo period. The hall houses the honzon, a statue of Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu.
The temple is believed to have been founded sometime in the 8th or early 9th century, with some sources linking it to the monk Gyoki and others to Kukai. Both figures played a central role in spreading Buddhism across Japan during that era.
Iiyama Kannon is the sixth station of the Bando Sanjusankasho, a pilgrimage route that links 33 temples across the Kanto region. Visitors walking the route stop here to receive a stamp in their pilgrimage booklet, a practice that remains very much alive today.
The temple stands in the Iiyama neighborhood of Atsugi, about a five-minute walk from Zama Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line. City buses from Hon Atsugi Station also stop at Iiyama Kannon-mae, served by the [Atsu 18], [Atsu 19], [Atsu 20], [Atsu 21] and [Atsu 22] routes. The Kannon-dō hall has a square plan of five girders and five beams.
The temple's bronze bonshō bell bears an inscription showing it was cast by Kiyohara Kunimitsu in 1442, making it a Kanagawa Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property. The Kannon-dō hall, with a square plan of five girders and five beams, is roofed in copper sheets over what was formerly thatch and is dated by its details to the mid-Edo period.
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