Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Saiko-ji Temple

 

  Some say Monk Hyetaeg had something to do with the foundation of Saiko-ji Temple.  Hyetaeg was from Goguryeo in the Korean Peninsula and moved to Harima Province in Japan.  When Emperor Nunakura no Futotamashiki (538?-585?) invited a Buddhist image from Baekje in the peninsula, Hyetaeg took part in the religious ceremony as a Buddhist monk.

     Actually, the Deai Ruins have 7 ancient burial mounds, pit dwellings, and others.  The area should have been developed since pre-historic days.

    According to temple tradition, Muryo-an Hermitage was built by Yuishoin Shinkaku, who later became the 3rd head priest of Shokai-ji Temple, sometime between 1249 and 1255 in the mid-Kamakura Period (1185-1333), when faith in Amitabha was beginning to spread throughout Harima Province.

     After ups and downs, sometime between 1655 and1657, the current main hall was built by Priest Reido, the hermitage was changed into an official Buddhist temple, and was renamed Muryoju-san Saiko-ji Temple.

     Sometime between 1804 and 1816, Priest Ryuga remodeled the main hall into a 2-storied pagoda type.  In 1877, the temple merged with Dachi-zan Seiryu-ji Temple.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

The various religious merits

Kannon Bodhisattva delivers from the temple

Answer our prayers which are as deep as the Deai River.

Address: Deai−255, Tamatsucho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2137

Phone: 078-927-9640

Shokai-ji Temple

Address: Takawa-1318 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2204

Phone: 078-994-0067