Tanema-ji

Tanema-ji holds three quiet origins folded into one temple. The first is a storm at sea: tradition relates that in 577 CE, Buddhist sculptors from Baekje on the Korean peninsula — returning home after working on Shitennō-ji in Naniwa — were caught in a typhoon off the Tosa coast. They took refuge near Mt. Motoo, carved a 145-centimeter seated Yakushi Nyorai as a prayer for safe passage, enshrined it on the summit, and continued their voyage when the storm calmed.

The second origin is agricultural. When Kūkai returned from his studies in Tang China in the early ninth century, he is said to have founded a temple around the Baekje-carved statue and sowed within the grounds five grains brought from China — rice, barley, millet, sorghum, and beans. The temple's name, 種間寺 (Tanema-ji), means 'Sown Seeds Temple.' In 947–957 Emperor Murakami granted the imperial seal 'Tanema,' confirming the name into official record.

The third origin, still living, is folk-Buddhist. The Yakushi Nyorai of Tanema-ji is popularly called Anzan no Yakushi — Yakushi of Safe Childbirth. Expectant mothers (or families on their behalf) receive a wooden ladle with the bottom removed, blessed at the temple, and take it home until birth. The hollow form symbolizes the wish that the baby may pass through easily, yoku tsuujiru. After a successful birth, the ladle is returned to the Kosodate (child-rearing) Kannon-dō as a thanks-offering.

Walls of returned ladles line the hall — each one a quiet record of a life passed safely into the world.

The temple has no formal mountain gate, which gives the grounds an open, working-rural feel that contrasts with the more dramatic Shikoku 88 mountain temples. Pilgrims arriving from Sekkei-ji six and a half kilometers east often note this — a temple woven into rice paddies and coastal plain, modest in scale, layered in meaning.

What thins at Tanema-ji is the boundary between thresholds. The temple's three layered origins — Baekje sculptors carving for safe sea passage, Kūkai sowing seeds for harvest, expectant mothers praying for safe birth — collapse into a single contemplative theme: passage. Through storms. Through harvest cycles. Through the birth canal. Each ladle around the Kosodate Kannon-dō marks one such passage completed.

The bottomless form of the ladle is itself a meditation. To pour through it would be to pour into nothing — but that is the point: the wish is for unimpeded flow, the baby moving through without obstruction. Stand near the wall of returned ladles and the field is not abstract. Each ladle was carried home by a particular woman or family, kept through pregnancy, returned in person after birth.

The cumulative weight is not solemn; it is steady, like a long count of thank-yous.

The rice paddies surrounding the temple extend the layer. Kūkai's five grains, the seasonal harvests of Kōchi, the temple's name itself — all keep the agricultural and human registers of fertility entangled. Some readers within Shingon describe this as a vernacular form of macrocosm-microcosm correspondence: the same blessing extending across cosmos and womb.

An enshrined Yakushi Nyorai statue carved at sea by Baekje sculptors as a prayer for safe voyage (sixth century, by tradition); reorganized as a Shingon temple by Kūkai in the early ninth century with the addition of agricultural blessing through the sowing of five grains brought from Tang China.

The temple was suppressed during the Meiji haibutsu kishaku in 1871 and rebuilt in 1880. Today functions as a Shingon Buzan-school temple, an active Shikoku 88 pilgrimage stop, and a regional center for safe-childbirth devotion.

The approach from Sekkei-ji follows roughly six and a half kilometers of flat farmland west toward Haruno. Tanema-ji has no formal Niōmon, so the precinct simply opens — a working-rural quality that pilgrims often comment on. The Hondō, Daishi-dō, and Kosodate Kannon-dō face an unornamented courtyard. Free parking is available on grounds.

The ritual sequence at the Hondō and Daishi-dō follows the standard Shikoku henro form: candle, three sticks of incense, fudasho-fuda placed in the wooden box, Heart Sutra and the Kōbō Daishi mantra (Namu Daishi Henjō Kongō), coin offering, repeated at both halls. The bonshō rings on entry only — never on leaving.

The distinct stop here is the Kosodate Kannon-dō. Its walls are lined with wooden ladles whose bottoms have been removed; some are recent, others have weathered into pale gray. Each one was given to an expectant mother as a blessing object, kept at home until the birth, then returned in thanks. Pilgrims often pause here longer than the standard ritual would suggest.

Photography of the wall is common, but each ladle is somebody's personal ex-voto and close-ups of recent offerings are best avoided.

For families seeking an anzan (safe-birth) blessing, the temple office can prepare a ladle on request. The arrangement is simple and personal — not a tourist transaction.

The temple sits in flat coastal-plain land in Haruno, Kōchi, near rice paddies. The grounds open without a formal gate. The Hondō and Daishi-dō stand to one side; the Kosodate Kannon-dō with its wall of bottomless ladles is on the other. The nōkyō office is between them. Free parking is available on grounds for 70 standard cars and 5 large vehicles.

By temple tradition, Buddhist sculptors from the Korean kingdom of Baekje were caught in a storm off Tosa in 577 CE while returning home from work on Shitennō-ji in Naniwa. They took refuge near Mt. Motoo, carved a 145-centimeter seated Yakushi Nyorai as a prayer for safe passage, and enshrined it on the summit before continuing their voyage.

Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), returning from China in the Kōnin era (814–824), built a temple around the existing image and sowed five grains brought from Tang China within the grounds — giving the temple its name. Emperor Murakami granted the imperial seal 'Tanema' during the Tenryaku era (947–957). The temple was suppressed during the Meiji haibutsu kishaku in 1871 and rebuilt in 1880 under continuing Yamauchi (Tosa daimyō) and local patronage.

Folk-Buddhist devotion to the Yakushi Nyorai as Anzan no Yakushi — Yakushi of Safe Childbirth — has shaped the temple's identity for centuries and remains active.

Shingon Buddhism, Buzan branch (Buzan-ha). The temple's formal name is Motoozan Suzakuin Tanemaji.

Annual blessings of bottomless ladles for safe childbirth; Yakushi Nyorai healing services; Shingon goma fire rituals; Kōbō Daishi memorial services. Local families have practiced the bottomless-ladle anzan tradition across generations.

Pilgrims complete the standard henro liturgy at the Hondō and the Daishi-dō — bell on entering, hands and mouth washed at the chōzuya, candle and three sticks of incense, fudasho-fuda placed in the box, Heart Sutra and Kōbō Daishi mantra chanted, coin offering, nōkyō stamp at the office. Expectant mothers and families request blessed bottomless ladles to take home; after a safe birth, the ladle is returned to the Kosodate Kannon-dō.

Walk the henro liturgy at both halls in the standard form, then spend a few minutes at the Kosodate Kannon-dō. The wall of returned ladles is most contemplated rather than photographed — sit or stand for a while and let the cumulative quality settle. If you carry a private wish for someone's safe passage, this is a good place to place it.

Tanema-ji is read through three overlapping registers — maritime origin legend, agricultural blessing, and folk-Buddhist childbirth devotion — none of which fully exhausts the temple's identity.

Films, episodes, and recorded talks for visitors who want more context before or after a visit. Speculative and alternative-history entries are labelled as perspectives, not as sources for established claims.

Continue through the atlas by country, tradition, physical form, or a focused search that combines this place’s strongest context.

Explore other sacred places in the region. Proximity does not establish access or travel time; check each place’s guidance.

Sekkei-ji

Kōchi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

5.2 km away

Kiyotaki-ji

Tosa, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

7.6 km away

Shōryū-ji

Tosa, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

8.1 km away

Chikurin-ji

Kōchi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan

10.3 km away

Sources consulted for this page. Source categories describe the publication, not a guarantee that every claim is verified. Traditional accounts and outside interpretations may differ.

1. 01Tanema-ji - Wikipedia — Wikipedia contributorsencyclopediaCore history and sect
2. 02Motoozan Suzakuin Tanemaji – Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage — Shikoku 88 ReijokaiofficialOfficial association entry
3. 03Tanemaji – Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku — Henro.orgguidePilgrim practicalities
4. 0434th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Tanemaji Temple — Shikoku Pilgrimage NewsguideBaekje sculptors origin story; Kosodate Kannon detail
5. 05Tanema-ji Temple Sokonukehishaku — TripAdvisor / local pilgrim accountsguideConfirms bottomless ladle (sokonuke hishaku) ritual