Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 35 Kiyotaki-ji

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.

Shikoku 88 Pilgrimage Temple 23 Yakuoji

With its distinctive hillside pagoda visible from miles away when approaching Hiwasa, Yakuoji is the last of the pilgrimage temples in Tokushima before entering Kochi.

According to the legend it was founded by Gyogi, and Kukai later visited and carved the statue of Yakushi Nyorai. It is a Shingon temple.

Apart from its place in the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage, it also receives hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over Japan who come here to pray for protection for their "unlucky" years, ages 41, 42, & 61 for men, and 32, 33, and 61 for women.

The approach to the temple has two sets of steps, the one for men has 42 steps, and the one for women has 33 steps. The steps up to the pagoda has 61 steps. A coin is left on each step as one climbs.

There are some fine views over the coastal town with its small, reconstructed castle....

Shikoku 88 Temple 19 Tatsue-ji

Tatsueji is known as a "sekisho", a barrier gate or spiritual checkpoint. There are stories of pilgrims who could not enter the temple grounds and therefore not continue with the pilgrimage because they were impure of heart.

Believed to be founded by Gyogi, who carved a miniature Jizo as the main deity, Kukai later visited and carved a much larger statue and enshrined the original inside it. It is now a Shingon temple.

Like so many other temples, Tatsueji was burned down by Chosokabe and then rebuilt afterwards at its present location. The current building date from 1977, built after another fire.

The very nice ceiling paintings in the new main hall were painted by art students from Tokyo.

In a small concrete shrine in the grounds are the old bell rope with a womans hair attached. This is from the most famous story of Tatsueji, the story of Okyo. Okyo, a woman from Hamada here in Iwami was sold as a girl to a brothel in Hiroshima. Later resold to Osaka she met and fell in love with a man called Yosuke. They both ran away and returned to Hamada and married. Later she began an affair with a man called Chozo and together they plotted and killed Yosuke. They ran away to Shikoku and began the pilgrimage. The Shikoku Pilgrimage has always had a reputation as a place where people could hide. When they got as far as Tatsueji Okyos hair became entangled in the bell rope. She confessed their sins to the priest and then devoted their lives to being devout Buddhists and lived out their lives in Tatsue.

Shikoku 88 Temple 15 Kokubunji

In the middle of the eighth Century Emperor Shomu established Kokubunji in every province. They were "state-protecting" monasteries and nunneries with the dual function of protecting the ruling elite and extending central control over the provinces.

The Kokubunji in Awa Province was established by Gyogi, though all that remains of the original is one of the huge foundation stones that supported the pagoda.

Like so many other temples in Shikoku this one was burnt to the ground by Chosokabe in the 16th Century. It was rebuilt in the middle of the 18th Century ans established as a Soto Zen temple.

The main deity is Yakushi Nyorai, the healing buddha, and legend has it the statues was carved by Gyogi.

There is a ruined Muromachi period garden behnd the temple but I was in severe pain and in a hurry to finish for the day and get to my hotel so I did not try to see it.