A Layman's Bones, Buried Beside Kōbō Daishi
Near the rear of the inner sanctuary at Okunoin on Mount Kōya, where Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) is believed to rest in eternal meditation, a small gilt-bronze pagoda was found in the earth in the late Meiji period. Its inscription explains why it was buried there. It records that the bones of a man named Nampo Matajirō, a lay devotee who had taken religious vows, were laid in the ground at the Okunoin on the "eight-petaled peak" of Kōya, and that he died on the twenty-second day of the sixth month of Kōan 10 (1287).
The burial assemblage, known collectively as the Nampo Matajirō Nōkotsu Ihin, the "burial relics of Nampo Matajirō," is a designated lot of archaeological material. Its two principal pieces are a gilt-bronze pagoda of the hōkyōintō type and a cast bronze plaque bearing a triad of Buddhist figures.
The pagoda's body is incised with the Sanskrit seed-syllables of the four Buddhas of the Vajradhātu, the diamond-realm mandala of esoteric Buddhism. This was not a casual grave. It was a carefully made esoteric reliquary, placed as close as a layman could come to the founder of Shingon.
Why It Is an Important Cultural Property
The relics were designated an Important Cultural Property on 9 June 1951. Their value lies in being dated, physical evidence of a belief that shaped medieval Japan. Kūkai was held not to have died in 835 but to have entered nyūjō, an unbroken state of meditation, in which he waits at Okunoin for the coming of the future Buddha Maitreya. To be buried near him was to be assured of salvation. Over centuries this conviction filled the Okunoin approach with the memorials of emperors, warlords and commoners alike.
The Nampo Matajirō burial fixes that practice to a single name and a single year, 1287, at the height of the Kamakura period. The inscription is its own document, naming the deceased, the place and the date in language that ties the act directly to the cult of the Daishi.
One point invites care. The cast bronze triad plaque was found together with the pagoda and is designated as part of this Kamakura lot, yet the Reihōkan museum describes the plaque as a work of the Nara period and as an early form of the pressed-relief Buddhist images that followed. If both readings hold, the plaque was already an antique when it went into the ground, an old and treasured image chosen to accompany the dead. Sources differ on its date, and the question is best left open.
What to Look For
The relics are held by Kongōbu-ji and are shown from time to time at the Reihōkan museum on Mount Kōya, where they have appeared in exhibitions devoted to the Okunoin and the cult of Kōbō Daishi. When they are on view, look first at the pagoda's surface. A hōkyōintō is a square-based stone or metal pagoda type, and on this small bronze example the four seed-syllables turn an object of mourning into a compact statement of esoteric doctrine.
Then read the meaning of the find-spot. These pieces were not displayed in a hall; they were buried, deliberately and out of sight, in the most sacred ground the medieval Japanese could imagine. The bronze triad, whatever its true date, was given up to the earth alongside them. There is a quiet drama in objects made expressly never to be seen again, recovered six centuries later.
A visit pairs naturally with the Okunoin itself. Walk the two-kilometre approach from Ichi-no-hashi to the mausoleum, past the towering memorials, and the burial of one layman's bones in 1287 stops being an isolated curiosity and becomes part of a continuous human impulse you can still see all around you.
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Q&A
- Who was Nampo Matajirō?
- A lay Buddhist devotee who had taken religious vows. Little is known of his life beyond the inscription, which records that he died in 1287 and that his bones were buried at Okunoin near Kūkai's mausoleum.
- Why were the remains buried at Okunoin?
- Kūkai was believed to remain in eternal meditation there, and burial nearby was thought to secure the deceased's salvation. The practice drew countless burials to the Okunoin over the centuries.
- Is the bronze triad really from the same period as the pagoda?
- Sources differ. It is designated within the 1287 burial lot, but the Reihōkan dates the plaque to the Nara period, which would make it an older image buried as a grave good. The matter is unresolved.
- Can I see the relics?
- They are not on permanent display, but they are shown periodically at the Reihōkan museum on Mount Kōya. Check the museum's exhibition schedule before visiting.
Basic Information
| Name | Nampo Matajirō Nōkotsu Ihin (burial relics of Nampo Matajirō) |
|---|---|
| Location | Mount Kōya, Kōya-chō, Ito-gun, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Category | Important Cultural Property (archaeological material); designated 9 June 1951 |
| Quantity | 1 lot (gilt-bronze hōkyōintō pagoda; cast bronze triad plaque) |
| Period / Date | Kamakura period; dated to Kōan 10 (1287) by inscription |
| Owner | Religious corporation Kongōbu-ji |
| Public access | Shown periodically at the Kōyasan Reihōkan museum |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/9680
- Kōyasan Reihōkan Museum, collection highlights
- https://reihokan.or.jp/syuzohin/
Last verified: 2026.06.23