The 71st temple on the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Temple Pilgrimage. A steep and rugged sacred site in Mitoyo City with the Thousand-Armed Kannon as its principal image. Natural caves in the rocky mountainside preserve ancient practice sites, and the climb up approximately 540 steep stone steps makes it one of the most challenging temples on the entire Shikoku pilgrimage. It is said to be a place where …

Iyadaniji Temple traces its origins to the Nara period. According to tradition, the monk Gyoki founded the temple in 741 at the imperial request of Emperor Shomu, with the temple precincts said to have been further established in 749. The great Buddhist monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi) is traditionally said…