Virtual Old Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Ryuzo-in Temple

 

     Taisan-ji Temple was founded in 716 by Fujiwara Umakai (694-737), who was appointed to be the vice ambassador of the 9th Japanese Mission to Tang China in the year.  When the temple was most prosperous, it had 41 sub-temples in its precincts, but only 5 of them survive today.  Ryuzo-in Temple is one of the surviving 5.

     Ryuzo means Dragon Elephant and is the high priest who excelled in both learning and virtue.  The original word for both a dragon and an elephant is naga, and dragons and elephants are the most superior animals in Hindu mythology.

     It is unknown why Ryuzo-in Temple left the Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and its Buddhist tanka poem is also unknown.

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