A Thatched Farmhouse That Happens to Be a Temple
The Kuri of Horikoshi Shaku Kannon (堀越癪観音庫裏, Horikoshi Shaku Kannon Kuri) is a thatched, single-storey building at a mountain temple in Higashidani, Katsuragi Town, Wakayama Prefecture, dating from the last decades of the Edo period and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on 31 October 2022.
A kuri is the domestic wing of a Japanese temple. It holds the kitchen, the priest's family quarters and the rooms where visitors are received, and it is usually the least ceremonial building on a temple site. Here that ordinariness is the point. The building stands immediately west of the main hall and looks like a farmhouse, because in its plan and its construction it essentially is one.
The roof is irimoya, hipped above and gabled below, under thatch. The west end is an earth-floored doma with a kamado cooking range. The east side is laid out as a mutsumadori kagi-zashiki, six tatami rooms arranged in an L, with a veranda running round the outside. Building area is 180 square metres. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes two archaic features inside: a tokosashi ceiling and an odachi-gumi roof frame, both older techniques than the building's date would suggest.
A Waypoint on the Katsuragi Pilgrimage
The temple is one of the practice sites of Katsuragi Shugen, the mountain-ascetic tradition of the ranges dividing Osaka from Wakayama and Nara. En no Gyōja, the seventh-century figure regarded as the founder of Shugendō, is said to have buried the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra one by one along these peaks, creating twenty-eight sutra mounds. Practitioners still walk between them.
Horikoshi served as one of the lodging points on that route. The thirteenth mound, called Mukai-tawa, sits on a ridge reached by following the forest road up from the temple; the name is thought to come from its position opposite the Horikoshi base. Nanakoshi Pass, a short distance away, was where three routes met: the ascetics' path running from Chichioni over Higashi-no-Tōmyōgadake, the Saigoku Thirty-Three Kannon pilgrimage road from Kokawa-dera to Sefuku-ji on Mount Makio, and the road to Horikoshi itself. It was also the working pass between Kii and Izumi provinces, and between the Osaka plain and Kōyasan.
In June 2020 the story of Katsuragi Shugen, subtitled as the birthplace of Shugendō preserved together with the people of the villages, was certified as a Japan Heritage covering nineteen municipalities. Horikoshi Shaku Kannon is one of its component cultural properties.
What the kuri contributes to that story is the domestic half of it. Katsuragi's peaks are not high, and the practice sites sit close to settlements, so ascetics here have always depended on village households for food, lodging and the upkeep of paths. A farmhouse-style building at a practice site is the physical form of that arrangement. The temple has been maintained by the Mukai family across generations, and the thatched kuri is still where visitors are received and talked to, as at the children's yamabushi training days held in recent summers.
The Temple and Its Hidden Buddha
The principal image is an eleven-headed Kannon, kept as a hibutsu, a concealed image not normally shown. Tradition holds that En no Gyōja carved it after his mother fell ill with shaku, an old term covering violent abdominal and chest pain, and that he worked with a ritual bow before each of three strokes of the blade. One account dates the carving to 671 and says she recovered after thirty-seven days of prayer. The name of the temple, Shaku Kannon, comes from this, and pilgrims still travel from Osaka and Kyoto to pray about digestive complaints.
Documented history is thinner. The Kii Zoku Fudoki, the Edo-period gazetteer of Kii Province, records a foundation in the Bunji era of the late twelfth century and a repair in the Keichō era around 1600; a sutra box dated 1701 survives. Buildings on the site are said to have burned during the Toyotomi campaigns against Kii in the Tenshō era of the late sixteenth century and to have been rebuilt afterwards. The kuri as it stands belongs to the closing decades of the Edo period, between roughly 1830 and 1868.
An old sazanka camellia beside the main hall is a Wakayama Prefecture natural monument. Estimates of its age differ sharply between sources, from more than two hundred years to around six hundred, so treat any single figure with caution. Other things in the precinct: a statue of Kōbō Daishi as a travelling monk facing the main hall, a Kannon hall a little above the temple housing a seated image of En no Gyōja, a Fudō Myōō goma hall on the slope behind, a large ginkgo, a weeping cherry, Kirishima azaleas, and a spring on the hillside whose water pilgrims come to collect.
Visiting
The precinct is open, with no admission fee and no fixed hours. Parking for about twenty cars is available. The temple sits high in the mountains of northern Katsuragi Town; sources give the elevation as roughly 605 to 650 metres, and the view opens out over the ridges and the settlements below.
By car, allow about twenty minutes from JR Kaseda or Myōji stations on the Wakayama Line, or from the Katsuragi-nishi interchange on the Keinawa Expressway. The final approach is a narrow mountain road where passing is difficult, so drive accordingly. Katsuragi Town runs a demand-responsive shared taxi; the Horibata stop leaves about an hour's walk to the temple.
The kuri is a working home as well as a registered building. It is not open for general interior viewing, though it is used for talks and programmes when the temple runs them. The exterior is visible from the precinct. Ask before photographing anything beyond the general view, and telephone 0736-25-0001 with questions.
The one day the temple fills is 3 May, the Tsutsuji Festival, when the Kirishima azaleas are out. The programme runs from a 10:00 opening service through the saitō ōgomaku fire ritual at noon to a closing offering at 15:00, with a fire-walking rite, and the seated En no Gyōja image at the Kannon hall is shown on that day. Two other registered buildings stand in the same Higashidani area: Kōya Amida Hall, a thatched hall of 1686, and the Matoba family residence.
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Q&A
- What is the Kuri of Horikoshi Shaku Kannon, and why was it registered?
- A kuri is a temple's domestic wing, holding the kitchen and living quarters. This one stands west of the main hall, is thatched under a hip-and-gable roof, and is laid out like a farmhouse with an earth-floored kitchen at the west end and six tatami rooms in an L to the east. It was registered on 31 October 2022 under the criterion of contribution to the historical landscape, as part of the scene of a Shugendō practice site.
- Can visitors go inside the Kuri of Horikoshi Shaku Kannon?
- Not as a rule. The building is the priest's family home and is not opened for general interior viewing, although it is used for talks and hands-on programmes when the temple runs them. You can see the exterior from the precinct, which is freely accessible.
- How do I get to Horikoshi Shaku Kannon, and is there parking?
- The address is 1360 Higashidani, Katsuragi Town, Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture. Allow about twenty minutes by car from JR Kaseda or Myōji stations, or from the Katsuragi-nishi interchange. Parking for around twenty cars is provided. The approach road is narrow with few passing places. Katsuragi Town's demand-responsive shared taxi stops at Horibata, about an hour's walk below the temple.
- Can the eleven-headed Kannon at Horikoshi Shaku Kannon be seen?
- No. The main image is a hibutsu, a concealed image, and is not displayed. Tradition holds that En no Gyōja carved it in prayer for his mother's recovery from shaku, a term for severe abdominal or chest pain, which is why pilgrims come here about digestive illness. The seated statue of En no Gyōja at the Kannon hall above the temple is shown once a year, on 3 May.
- When is the Tsutsuji Festival at Horikoshi Shaku Kannon, and what happens?
- It is held every year on 3 May, when the Kirishima azaleas flower. The day opens with a service at 10:00, the saitō ōgomaku outdoor fire ritual is performed at noon, and a closing offering follows at 15:00. There is a fire-walking rite, and ascetics and worshippers come from across the region.
- How does Horikoshi Shaku Kannon relate to the Katsuragi Shugen Japan Heritage?
- It is one of the component cultural properties of the Katsuragi Shugen story, certified as a Japan Heritage in June 2020 across nineteen municipalities. The temple is a practice site on the twenty-eight-station route associated with En no Gyōja, and the thirteenth sutra mound, Mukai-tawa, lies on a ridge above it.
Basic Information
| Name | Kuri of Horikoshi Shaku Kannon (堀越癪観音庫裏) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1360 Aza-Mukai, Higashidani, Katsuragi Town, Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 30-0329 |
| Year Designated | 31 October 2022 (103rd round of registrations) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber construction, thatched roof, building area 180 m²; late Edo period (c. 1830 to 1868) |
| Owner | Not recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database; the temple has been maintained by the Mukai family |
| Public Access | Precinct freely open, no fee or fixed hours, parking for about 20 cars. Interior of the kuri not generally open. Tel. 0736-25-0001 |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Horikoshi Shaku Kannon Kuri
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00014404
- Cultural Heritage Online: Horikoshi Shaku Kannon Kuri
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/590313
- Japan Heritage Katsuragi Shugen: Horikoshi Shaku Kannon
- https://katsuragisyugen-nihonisan.com/cultural_property/cat02/post_71.php
- Japan Heritage Katsuragi Shugen: the story
- https://katsuragisyugen-nihonisan.com/story/
- Wakayama Prefecture official tourism site: Horikoshi Shaku Kannon
- https://www.wakayama-kanko.or.jp/spots/detail_3355.html
- Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.pref.wakayama.lg.jp/prefg/500700/mokuroku/d00155458.html
Last verified: 2026.08.28