Gonjoji Temple

It is one of the five branches of Miidera Temple. It is also called Takakannon and the 4th stop on Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage. Starting from Miidera Kannondo Hall, go across the Kozekigoe Road, head to the south, and you will find its precinct on the top of the mountain. The main hall in the center, the Amidado Hall to the north and Benzaiten Shrine on the south stand side by side. In 904, Monk Annen, a scholar of the Tendai Sect in the early Heian Period [between the late 8th and 9th centuries] reportedly founded this temple. The present main hall was rebuilt in 1716, and the principal image, a standing statue of thousand-armed Kannon and his 28 followers are enshrined in the inner temple. The Amidado hall connected to the main hall by a corridor was built in 1850. Zenkoji Nyorai is enshrined as the principal image. Both are valuable buildings featuring a style of Edo-period Buddhist temple of Kannon pilgrimage.