Virtual Kawabe 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Hogan-ji Temple

 

     In 731, when Gyoki (668-749) built the Koya-ike Pond.  He established the Koya Sein, a kind of fuseya, for the purpose of providing relief to the poor.  In 733, it became a Buddhist temple,Koya-dera Temple, at the request of the 45th Emperor Shomu (701-756).  36 sub-temples were founded.  Its surrounding area was cultivated and turned into a manor.  Hogan-ji Temple could have been one of the original 36 sub-temples.

     Hogan-ji Temple was moved to its present location by Priest Saiyo (?-1572) in 1522.

     Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) replaced Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523) with the son of Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480-1511), Yoshiharu (1511-1550), in 1521.  Takakuni was in his heyday.

     After the relocation, the temple burned down 2 times.  In 1688, the 8th priest, Kan'yo, rebuilt its buildings.  The buildings stood for about 3 centuries until 1995, when the Great Hanshin Earthquake broke out.  Its new buildings' construction was finished in May, 1998, and their dedication ceremony was held on November 8th in the same year.

     The big camphor tree in the precincts is 28 meters tall.  Its trunk is about 6 meters in diameter.  Its branches spread 17 meters in east, 12.5 meters in west, 15 meters in north, and 16 meters in south.  It is presumed to have lived about 500 years.  That means the tree was born before Hogan-ji Temple moved to its present location.

     When Kaji Kyokufu (1799-1874) wrote Arioka Ko-zokugo, or the Arioka Reminiscences, in 1865, he described the tree as an unusually big tree.

Address: 2 Chome-6-16 Central, Itami, Hyogo 664-0851

Phone: 072-772-2144