Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Entsu-ji Temple

 

     Haoka Hill used to be the Akashi Domain's hunting grounds.  Matsudaira Nobuyuki (1631-1686), the 6th lord of the Akashi Domain, developed new rice fields there, and Toba Village was organized from 1659 to 1679.  At the request of village headman, Iwasa Uemon, Nobuyuki built a Kannon-do hall.  Some say Toba Village was already nearby and 12 households immigrated from the village and developed the new rice fields in the nearby hilly area.

     Nobuyuki was transferred to the Yamato Koriyama Domain and then to the Shimousa Furukawa Domain, where he died in 1686.

     With the cooperation of the villagers, Zensho, a traveling monk from Usuki, Bungo Province, rebuilt the Kannon-do Hall in 1688.

     In 1735, the villagers erected a monument to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nobuyuki's death, in memory of his virtue.

     Some time between 1688 and 1735, the hall became a Buddhist temple and was named Josui-ji.

     Nun Gyoshun rebuilt the main hall in October, 1965, and changed the temple's name from Daihi-san Jousui-ji to Jigan-san Entsu-ji.

     Part of the temple was rebuilt in 1993, and the Jizo-do hall, which used to be the Kannon-do hall, was converted into a two-story building.

     The monument for Yukinobu was rebuilt in 2000.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

Even those who lose their children

Can be saved without exception.

Give a try to the flowers falling from the compassionate temple.

Address: 3-chome-8-1 Sawano, Akashi, Hyogo 673-0008

Phone: 078-928-0174