Sect: Shingon Buddhism, Daikakuji School
Principal Deity: Eleven-Faced Kannon (Avalokitesvara)
Founded: 977
Goeika (Pilgrimage Hymn): “Preventing dementia, at Futami Myōken Kannon, A life full of vitality, offering aid to all.”
Manifestation (Okeishin): Takimi Kannon (Waterfall-Viewing Kannon)
This form of Kannon is depicted sitting on a cliff, gazing at a waterfall. It symbolizes the purification of the heart—just as the power of falling water extinguishes flames, even a heart filled with malice can be cleansed by chanting the name of Kannon.
○ History & Origins
According to temple records, Priest Kishin Shonin Joyo (958–1047) traveled to Futami in Hiwasa Town (at the southwestern tip of Hiwasa) under divine guidance from the Hase Kannon of Hase-dera Temple in Nara (part of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage). There, he discovered a sacred, glowing piece of driftwood in the sea, from which he carved an Eleven-Faced Kannon and established Kannonji.
Later, in August of the second year of the Shoka era (1258), a great storm, flood, and tidal waves submerged over 800 houses in Futami, making it uninhabitable. The temple records state that the temple, along with its parishioners, relocated to its current site, where they rebuilt their community. The temple is now in its 46th generation, maintaining a long and distinguished history.
○ Message from the head priest
About 500 meters east of our temple lies Ohama Beach, a nationally designated natural monument and a protected nesting site for sea turtles. From May to August each year, loggerhead turtles, measuring about 1 meter in shell length and weighing around 100 kg, come ashore to lay eggs.
○ Access
Address: 78 Honmura, Okugawachi, Minami, Kaifu, Tokushima, 779-2305, Japan
Phone number: 0884-77-0069
Large Buses: Permitted from Minami Town Hall
Microbuses: Permitted from Minami Town Hall