1,200th Memorial of Kobo Daishi

Kobo Daishi, Kukai (774–835), brought the orthodox transmission of esoteric Buddhism from Tang China and founded the Shingon school in Japan. He entered meditation at Mount Koya in 835, and in the Shingon school he is revered as remaining even now in deep meditation at the Okunoin, watching over us.

A memorial (onki) is a great rite held every fifty years. The year 2034 marks 1,200 years since the Daishi entered meditation. A 1,200th memorial comes but once in many generations: an occasion to honour the Daishi’s virtue, and to carry his teaching and his temple to the next generation.

In recent years, several anniversaries connected with the Daishi have come in succession: the 1,200th year of the founding of Mount Koya (2015), and the 1,250th year of his birth (2023). Yet where these celebrate a founding or a birth, the memorial is of another kind. It is the great rite of gratitude offered to the Daishi, who remains even now in meditation at the Okunoin. Held once in fifty years with the whole strength of the school, it is the most revered of all, the foremost observance of Shingon.

Toward this great juncture, Byodoji is restoring its precinct as a single undertaking.

The 1,200th-anniversary memorial is a once-in-many-generations occasion to honour the Daishi’s virtue and carry his teaching to the ages that follow.

At the same time, the region around Byodoji is changing. For now, households remain nearby, and so do the hands that support the rites and the upkeep of the grounds. But fifty years on, this village may not stand as it does today. While the hands, the craftsmen’s skill, the materials, and the eyes that watch over the temple each day are still with us, we wish to set the precinct in a state we can pass to the next generation.

Rather than mend each hall and image in isolation, Byodoji gathers these works into one undertaking, so that those who form a bond can see the whole, and choose where to lend their hand. At its centre stands the restoration of the Daishido.