Qualla: Nittai-ji

Nittai-ji: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gryffindor, CC BY-SA 3.0. A pot unearthed in northern India in the nineteenth century changed everything scholars thought they knew about the historical Buddha. The inscription on its side, dated to roughly the third century BC, read: "The pot of the holy remains of Buddha is enshrined with a heart of trust by wife, children, brothers and sisters, together with a Sakya clan in India." It was physical proof that the Buddha was not merely a figure of legend. The ashes inside that pot eventually traveled halfway across the world to Nagoya, where they rest today inside Kakuozan Nittai-ji, a temple whose very name -- meaning "Japan-Thailand Temple" -- encodes a remarkable story of diplomacy between two nations bound by Buddhist faith.

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Image: Gryffindor | CC BY-SA 3.0

Nittai-ji: A King's Gift

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bariston, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the Indian government examined the ancient relics, they kept the pot at the Indian Museum in Kolkata but entrusted the ashes of the Buddha to the royal family of Thailand. King Chulalongkorn placed the relics at Wat Saket in Bangkok, then divided portions as gifts to Buddhis...

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Image: Bariston | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nittai-ji: A Temple Without a Sect

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bariston, CC BY-SA 4.0. When Foreign Minister Shuzo Aoki received word of the incoming relics, he commanded the chiefs of all major Buddhist sects -- 13 sects and 56 sub-sects at the time -- to prepare for their reception. The temple built to house them, completed in 1904, was deliberately placed outsid...

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Image: Bariston | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nittai-ji: Treasures Behind the Gate

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Asturio Cantabrio, CC BY-SA 4.0. Visitors passing through the main gate encounter a five-storied pagoda and the Shariden, the reliquary hall that shelters the ashes. The relics themselves -- the holy ashes known in Japanese as Busshari -- remain the temple's most sacred object. The gold-bronze statue of the Budd...

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Image: Asturio Cantabrio | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nittai-ji: The 21st Day Market

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0. Every month on the 21st, the streets in front of Nittai-ji transform. Vendors set up stalls selling food, antiques, pottery, and handicrafts in a fair held in celebration of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. The market draws crowds from across Nagoya and gives the Kak...

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Image: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert | CC BY 4.0