The 55th temple on the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Temple Pilgrimage, located in the heart of Imabari City and enshrining Daitsuchisho Nyorai as its principal image. Nankobo is well known as the only temple among the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Sacred Places to bear the name bo (hall) rather than ji (temple), and this venerable temple is said to have served as the administrative temple of the Betsumiya Oyamazum…

Nankobo is said to have been founded around 596 CE. It was originally established as the administrative temple (bettoji) of the Betsumiya Oyamazumi Shrine in Imabari, and tradition holds that the temple was named after four deities who descended upon the site. During the early Heian period, the monk…