Iyama-dera (formally Chōkoku-ji) is a Kōyasan Shingon temple in Iiyama, Atsugi, Kanagawa, the sixth station of the Bandō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, popularly known as Iiyama Kannon. Said to have been founded in the 8th century by Gyōki and later restored by Kūkai, this venerable temple enshrines an Eleven-Headed Kannon Bodhisattva as principal image. The Kannon Hall is designated a tangible cultural pr…

According to tradition, the temple was founded in 725 by Gyōki, who carved an Eleven-Headed Kannon and built halls here. Later in the Kōnin era (810-824), Kūkai visited, restored the temple, and developed it as a full Shingon esoteric training center. Receiving the devotion of Minamoto no Yoritomo, …