Taisanji Temple 56 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

Taisanji, temple 56 on the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage, is located in the rural outskirts of Imabari in Ehime.

I  visited at the end of my 34th day on the pilgrimage. I started the day at another Taisanji Temple, number 52 in Matsuyama, but they are written with different kanji, number 52 roughly means "big mountain", whereas this one means "peace mountain".

Taisanji in Matsuyama was a major temple and I ended up doing two posts on it, one on the architecture, and a second on the art, whereas  the Taisanji here in Imabari is somewhat less interesting and fairly nondescript.

The temple was founded in 815 when Kobo Daishi visited the area. 

The area suffered repeated flooding from the nearby Soja River and so Konoba Daishi performed a ritaul on the banks and helped the villagers to construct a levee.

The honzon of the temple is a Jizo, said to be carved by Kobo Daishi himself.

In earlier times it seems to have been quite large and important, but of course was destroyed many times during conflict.

The current building seem to date back to the mid 19th century.

There is no longer a Niomon, but two fine Nio can be seen in a display structure with windows.

There are a couple of Fudo statues in the grounds and some other statues....

If you look around it is possible to find interesting things, for instance the final photo...

According to one source the temple has a tsuyado, free lodgings, often very minimal, for walking pilgrims.

The previous temple, just 3 kilometers away, was Nankobo Temple.