Shikoku Temple 67, Daikoji

 

 

As often occurs on the pilgrimage, I made friends with some other “ojisan” pilgrims.  In Japan, everyone speaks at least a few words of English.  And against the odds, I have been up a few words of Japanese

Daikōji was commonly called Komatsuoji, after the temple’s mountain name, Komatsuozan (temples are metaphorically called mountains). The nearby community is called Komatsuo.

According to legend, Daikōji was built in 742 as a branch temple of Todaiji. It originally stood about one kilometer northwest of the present site, and enshrined the three gods of Kumano Sansho Gongen. In 792 Kobo Daishi visited the temple. In 822 the temple was rebuilt by order of Emperor Saga.

However, at the end of the Sengoku period (1467-1590), the temple was completely destroyed by fire during the invasion of Sanuki (Kagawa) by Chosokabe Motochika. It was rebuilt in the Keicho era (1596-1615), but was destroyed by fire again. The Hondo was rebuilt in 1741.

Although today’s Daikōji is a Shingon sect temple, it has the unusual history that it had temples of two sects, Shingon and Tendai, within the same grounds; there were 24 Shingon priests’ cells and 12 Tendai priests’ cells.

This is why the Tendai sect had a great influence on the temple, which can be seen in the buildings, with a Shingon Daishido on the left of the Hondo and a Tendai Daishido on the right, where the third founder of the Tendai sect, Chigi, is enshrined. There are statues of Fudo Myōō (Immovable Wisdom King) and Bishamonten (Vaishravana) on either side of the principal image; the Fudo Myōō is in the Tendai style.