The 69th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage of Eighty-Eight Temples, enshrining the Holy Kannon Bodhisattva as its principal image. Together with the 68th temple, Jinnein, it shares the same precinct, making it one of only two temples in Japan that coexist within a single compound. It is an ancient temple said to have been founded by Gyoki in 703 and later restored by Kobo Daishi. From the Kotohikiy…

Kanonji Temple is traditionally said to have been founded in 703 CE (the third year of the Taiho era) by the Buddhist monk Gyoki, who is credited with carving the principal image of Sho-Kannon (Holy Kannon Bodhisattva). In the early 9th century, Kobo Daishi Kukai is said to have visited the site and…