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Saishoji is an ancient Shingon temple located in Teradomari, Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, known as a sacred site where one of Japan's rare sokushinbutsu (self-mummified Buddha statues) is enshrined. The principal object of worship, the sokushinbutsu of Kochi Hoin, was a monk of the early Edo period who, after severe ascetic practice, is said to have entered nirvana through fasting and achieve…

An ancient temple said to have been founded by the monk Gyoki in the Nara period. Through the Heian and Kamakura periods it became an important base of Buddhism in Echigo, and in the Edo period its fame as a nationally known sacred site grew when the monk Kochi Hoin underwent sokushinbutsu (mummific…