Ōya-ji (大谷寺) is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in the city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, in northern Kantō region of Japan. The temple is famous for its bas-relief carvings on a cliff face. The honzon of the temple is a bas-relief stone statue of Senjū Kannon. The temple is 19th stop on the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage route of 33 temples sacred to Kannon in the Kantō region.

History
The history and foundation of the temple is uncertain, but it appears to date from the late Nara period to early Heian period. The temple is located in a valley which contains the ruins of a Jōmon period settlement. According to the temple’s own legend, it was founded by Kūkai in 810 AD after he returned from Tang Dynasty China. The temple became part of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho route in the Kamakura period. It was under the protection of the powerful Utsunomiya Futaarayama Jinja and the Utsunomiya clan through the Muromachi period. The temple was rebuilt in the early Edo period by Kamehime, the eldest daughter of Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, with the assistance of Tenkai as a resting place between Edo and the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō. The temple has burned down on several occasions, and most of its documentary history has been lost. Its precincts were excavated in 1965, and Buddha statues from the Kamakura period, votive stones dated 1363, and a copper bowl dated 1551 were found.