Virtual Ika 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Daitaku-ji Temple

     Gyoki  (668-749) carved out the main deity, the statue of Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces, and founded Daitaku-ji Temple in 724.  The temple bell was made in 1412.  Sakuma Morimasa (1554-1583), a vassal of Shibata Katsuie (1522-1583), stroke it wildly to let other warriors on his side know the arrival of the enemy troops of Toyotomi Hideyoshi  (1536-1598) when the Battle of Shizugatake broke out in May, 1583.  In the battles, the temple buildings were burnt down, but the main deity was saved by the villagers and moved to Kanzan-ji Temple in Sakaguchi Village, Yogo.  The statue returned to Daisaku-ji Temple in 1879.

     Legend has it that a celestial nymph had given birth to a boy, who had been raised in Kanzan-ji Temple, and who later had become Sugawara Michizane (845-903).