Virtual Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Katsuo-ji Temple

 

     Zenchu (708-768) and Zenasan (708-769) were twin sons of Fujiwara Munefusa.  As Munefusa's achievements weren't recorded, he could have been a middle-ranking or low-ranking nobleman.  Zenchu and Zensan became pupils of Monk Eitan in Shitenno-ji Temple at the age of 9.  At the age of 17, they became Buddhist monks.  In 727, they entered Mount Katsuo, built a hermitage, and practiced religious austerities.  Prince Kaijo (724-781), an illegitimate child of Emperor Konin (709-782), came to the mountain in 765, learned from the brothers, became a Buddhist priest, and founded Miroku-ji Temple there in 775.  The temple's main deity, the Thousand-Armed Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha or Eleven-Faced Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja standing statue, was made by Myokan in 780.  The temple was renamed Katsuo-ji in 880, when the temple was first documented in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku.

     Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, namely the True Record of Three Reigns of Japan, is a history text officially mandated by Emperor Uda (867-931) to compile.  It was compiled by Fujiwara Tokihira (871-909), Sugawara Michizane (845-903), Okura Yoshiyuki (832-921), and Mimune Masahira (853-926), and covers the years from August 27th, 858, to August 26th, 887, corresponding to three imperial reigns: Seiwa (850-881), Yozei (869-949), and Koko (830-887). The compilation was completed in 901. 

Address: 2914-1 Aomatani, Minoh, Osaka 562-8508

Phone: 072-721-7010

Shitenno-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome-11-18 Shitennoji, Tennoji Ward, Osaka, 543-0051

Phone: 06-6771-0066