A little girl stopped in front of the main hall of Kawasaki Daishi

Little girl standing in front of the main hall of Kawasaki Daishi — Girl standing in front of the main hall

Crossing the Tama River, I headed for Kawasaki. The destination of the day was Kawasaki Daishi. As I walked down the approach to the temple, I passed by a store selling the famous cough drops, and soon a large gate appeared. After passing through the gate, the main hall of the temple was already in front of me. Kawasaki Daishi gives the strong impression of being a place for Hatsumode (New Year's visits to shrines or temples). It is the third most visited place in Japan for Hatsumode. On this day, however, there was a calm atmosphere in the temple grounds. Visitors were walking around the empty temple grounds in a leisurely manner.

Kawasaki Daishi is a common name for the temple, which is officially called Kongo-san Kinjoin Heiken-ji Temple. Kongo originally meant diamond, which in turn means the best in esoteric Buddhism. This temple is the head temple of the Chisan school of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, so it is the best of the best. I wondered what the meaning of “Heiken" of Heiken-ji Temple was, but this was, contrary to my expectations, the name of a person. It is said that the temple was originally named after a man named Hirama Kanenari, who salvaged a wooden statue of Kobo Daishi. I felt that it was unusual for a Buddhist temple to be named after a person, not after a place or an implied word.

I stopped in the middle of the temple grounds and scurried around. I could see people gathered around the incense burner. Many of them were families, probably because it was Children's Day. After a while, a young girl came into view, stopped in front of the main hall and turned around.

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