ABOUT
About this spot
Fudarakusan-ji is a Tendai Buddhist temple by the sea at Nachi Beach in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture. Its main object of worship is a Kannon with three faces and eleven heads and a thousand arms. The temple is counted within the Kumano Sanzan national historic site and is a component of the World Heritage property "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range", inscribed in 2004. Tradition says the temple was opened by the monk Ragyo Shonin, who drifted ashore from India in the age of Emperor Nintoku. Until the Edo period it was one of the seven major temples of Nachi with a large complex, but a typhoon in 1808 destroyed its main buildings. The present main hall was rebuilt in 1990 in Muromachi style. The temple is best known for Fudaraku-tokai. From the Heian to the Edo period, monks sailed from Nachi Beach in small boats toward the southern sea in search of Kannon's Pure Land. More than forty voyages are recorded, and 25 of them are said to have left from this temple. Memorial tablets of the voyaging monks and parts of a voyage boat survive at the temple. The standing Thousand-Armed Kannon, an Important Cultural Property about 172 cm tall, is shown only on certain memorial days (January 27, May 17 and July 10). The temple is a short walk from Nachi Station, and a visit takes about 30 minutes. Kumano Nachi Taisha, Seiganto-ji and Nachi Falls are about 5 km away. Please check visiting hours and fees with the temple or the local tourist association before you go.
Last updated October 23, 2026