Virtual Kako County Chichibu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Kunioka-Kannon-do Hall

 

     The exact date of the hall's construction is unknown, but there is a legend that a thatched-roof hall existed there before Kunioka Shinmura, Kunioka New Village, was organized in 1662.

     It was rebuilt in 1881, when the principal image was enshrined.

     As the 16th sacred site of the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage in the county, it was once a popular pilgrimage site for pilgrims, and the Banshu Ondo dance was performed during the Jizo Bon festival.

     The principal image is an eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva statue (wooden, seated, 1 shaku 4 sun tall), was originally created before 1575 by the lord of Miki Castle,

Bessho Nagaharu, and was believed to have been a personal prayer for him.

     After the fall of Miki Castle, his retainers enshrined it in Bessho, but for some reason, Shoji Jisaburo of Kunioka acquired it along with related documents, and it has been enshrined by his family ever since. Afterward, a woman who had been diligently praying every day received a divine message that if she built a temple facing east, as per tradition, and enshrined Jizo on the right and Prince Shotoku on the left, she would remain in this place. This became the impetus for the reconstruction of the temple in its current location.

     From the reconstruction until around 1985, the temple was cared for by a resident caretaker. Since then, it has been cared for by members of the local Buddhist prayer group and the caretaker committee.

     While older reconstruction records are unknown, reconstructions were carried out in 1997 and 2014.

Address 677-1 Kunioka, Inami, Kako District, Hyogo 675-1115