Day 17: No.39 Enko-ji (延光寺)

The main gate of No.39 Enko-ji

Nio statue of Enko-ji

I walked quite a lot from Mihara village, but it was indeed a long way to go… In the end, I walked more than 30 kilometers to get here… I was exhausted.

The main gate and the Nio statue at Enkou-ji is quite impressive, but I couldn’t take a good picture of it because there was the wire mesh… It was a bit disappointing.

It is said that a red turtle brought the bell from dragon palace

No.38 Enko-ji is the last sacred temple of Kochi (Tosa) – the place of ascetic training. I found it interesting when I read the origin of the name of this temple, which is connected to this turtle in the picture.

In 911, a red turtle carried the bronze bell on its back from Dragon Palace to this temple, and the priest devoted it. Because of this origin, Mt.Kame-tsuru (turtle & crane) Hoko-ji was renamed to Mt.Akagame (red turtle) Enko-ji.

From Enko-ji old record
The main temple of No.39 Enko-ji

Taishi-do

A well for eyewashing

The main temple and the Taishi-do are small, but I think this is about the right size, in my opinion 🙂 After I finished reciting the sutra and mantra, then I found this “eyewashing well”. If you wash your eye with the water from this well, your eye disease will be cured.

The temple stamp of No.39 Enko-ji

The script they wrote on the temple stamp was elegant and really beautiful. I think this is the best one I’ve seen so far.

Dedicated toYakushi-Nyorai (薬師如来)
Founded byGyoki-Bosatsu (行基菩薩)
DenominationSingon-sect Chisan-group (真言宗智山派)
Mantraおん ころころ せんだり まとうぎ そわか
On Korokoro Sendari Matougi Sowaka
Next templeNo.40 Kanjizai-ji (25.8 Km away)
Previous templeNo.38 Kongofuku-ji (52.8 Km away)
No.39 Enko-ji