Mizusawa-dera

Mizusawa-dera
Mizusawa-dera
水澤寺
	Kannon-dō (Main hall)
Religion
Affiliation	Buddhist
Deity	Juichimen Senju Kannon
Rite	Tendai
Status	functioning
Location
Location	214 Mizusawa, Ikaho-machi, Shibukawa-shi, Gunma
Country	Japan
	Shown within Gunma Prefecture Mizusawa-dera (Japan)
Geographic coordinates	36°28′45.6″N 138°56′43″E / 36.479333°N 138.94528°E
Architecture
Founder	Empress Suiko (?)
Completed	Asuka period (?)
Website
	http://www.mizusawakannon.or.jp/index.php

Mizusawa-dera (水澤寺) is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect located in the city of Shibukawa in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Its honzon is a bronze statue of Juichimen Senju Kannon Bosatsu (千手観世音菩薩). The temple is also referred to as simply the Mizusawa-Kannon (水澤観音). It is 16th stop on the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage route of 33 temples sacred to Kannon in the Kantō region.

History

The foundation of the temple is uncertain and all ancient documentary evidence pre-dating the Edo period has been lost. According to temple's own legend, it was founded in the Asuka period under the sponsorship of the Kokushi of Kōzuke province Takanobe Ienari. during the reign of Empress Suiko, who invited Ekan, a high-ranking prelate from Goguryeo to introduce Buddhism to the region. The honzon statue of Kannon Bosatsu is said to have been then personal statue of his daughter, Ikaho-hime. The temple has bene destroyed by fires several times in its history.

The temple’s two-story Rokkaku-dō with a hexagonal base is registered as a Gunma Prefectural Important Cultural Property. It contains a rotating sutra library on its ground floor and a state of Dainichi Nyōrai on its second story.