Nunobiki Kannon (Shakusonji Temple) in Okubo, Komoro City, famous for its Kannon hall clinging to sheer cliff faces. It is celebrated as the birthplace of the legend "Led by an ox to Zenkoji," which tells of a pious pilgrim miraculously guided to Zenkoji Temple in Shinano. The hall built against the rough rock face evokes the solemn atmosphere of an ascetic training ground. As a sacred mountain si…

The founding of Nunobiki Kannon (Shakusonji Temple) is said to date as far back as the Nara period, and mountain ascetics have long visited this sheer-cliff sacred site. The legend 'Led by an ox to Zenkoji' — in which an old woman's laundry is grabbed by an ox that leads her to Zenkoji Temple where …