Virtual Ika 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Sekibun-ji Temple

     There runs Aka River near Sekibun-ji Temple.  The Chinese-style pronunciation of Aka is Seki.  When Saicho (767-822) visited the village in 805, he noticed a light piercing from the riverbed.  There, he found a statue, and founded a temple for it.  That was the start of Sekibun-ji Temple.

     In 1504, Azai Sukemasa (1491-1542) overthrew his lord, Kyogoku Takakiyo (1460-1538).  The fights caused the temple to burn down.  The present statue is supposed to have been carved by the beginning of the Edo Period.  So, it is unknown whether it can control its weight freely.