Kamiwano Bato Kannon

About Kamiwano Bato Kannon

Kamiwano Bato Kannon (上和野馬頭観世音) is a hall dedicated to the horse-headed Kannon in Kaminoshimosawada, Shizukuishi Town, Iwate District, Iwate Prefecture, whose main hall of 1914 and former hall dating back to the mid-Edo period were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Property structures on August 1, 2016. Both are owned by the religious corporation Kamiwano Bato Kannon.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the precinct opens eastward at the foot of Mount Sodeyama. The main hall faces east and the former hall faces north.

Faith in Horse Country

Shizukuishi Town explains that in the Edo period Nanbu horses were so highly prized that the shogunate sent its own horse buyers, and that people in Shizukuishi kept the custom of living with their horses in L-shaped magariya farmhouses. Devotion to horse deities ran deep, and Bato Kannon, the horse-headed form of Kannon, was long worshipped here.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the former hall as conveying the faith of a district famous for fine horses. Said to be the earlier main hall, it was moved in 1914, the year the present main hall was built (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Two Halls

The main hall is a three-bay hall with a one-bay porch and a balustraded veranda on the front and sides. Its pillars carry two-stepped bracket sets with tail rafters, and the carved patterns on the inner panels and the three-dimensional carvings around the porch are well worth seeing (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The former hall is also a three-bay hall with a one-bay porch. A ridge tag of 1881 records a "revival", which Shizukuishi Town reads as reroofing and major repairs to the veranda rather than new construction, dating the original building to the mid to late Edo period. Because it holds many votive horse paintings, it is now called the Emado, the votive-picture hall (Shizukuishi Town, Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting Kamiwano Bato Kannon

Kamiwano Bato Kannon is at 105 Kaminoshimosawada, Shizukuishi Town. We found no official information on interior access or visiting hours. Enquiries go to the Shizukuishi Town Lifelong Learning, Culture and Sports Division (019-692-4181).