Virtual Ika 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Hoenji Kannon-do Temple

     Hoenji is a place name.  There might have been Hoen-ji Temple.  In the area, a lot of temple tiles and old coins in the 8th century have been excavated.

     In 1407, Priest Shunzen, who belogned to the Tendai Sect, wrote the History of Kodakamiyama (or Mt. Kodakami), which has been kept in Keisoku-ji Temple.  The book says that Saicho (766-822), the founder of the Tendai Sect in Japan, carved some statues, and that the Amitabha statue in Hoenji is one of them.  Mt. Kodakami is 923 meters tall, is covered with beech trees, and used to be the center of mountain worship in the Northern part of Omi Province.  Even today, you can find 6 Jizo statues, the oldest ones in the area, and old stone pagodas.  5-7 temples are said to have been around the mountain in the Heian Period (794-1868).