At the end of my 17th day of walking I arrived at Kiyotakiji, the 35th temple of the pilgrimage, located on a mountainside overlooking Takaoka in Tosa City.
It's not so high, but with a steep approach. There were some fine Nio in the gate halfway up the final flight of stone steps. According to legend the temple was founded by Gyogi in 723 and he carved the honzon, a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha, which is a National Treasure.
Kobo Daishi visited here later and, in a ubiquitous legend created a spring with his staff, though here it became a waterfall which leads to the temples name which means "Clean Waterfall Temple".
The priests here were very kind, giving me permission to spend the night in the Tsuyado, free accomodations, quite a substantial one. They also asked if I needed any food, which I didn't. It was nice to be able to explore the grounds after dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment