is a

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

temple in

Matsuyama file:Matsuyama city office Ehime prefecture Japan.jpg, 270px, Matsuyama City Hall file:Ehimekencho-20040417.JPG, 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan ...

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is Temple 51 on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. Its name means Stone Hand Temple (石手寺). Seven of its structures have been designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties.

History

The temple of Annoyō-ji was founded by

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera, ...

, and converted from a Hossō to a

temple by Kūkai. Rebuilt by the ruler of

Iyo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...

in the eighth century, many of the temple buildings were destroyed by the Chōsokabe in the sixteenth century. The

aetiology Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiología'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitía'', "cause"); and ('' -logía''). More completely, e ...

sees the temple's name changed to Ishite-ji or ''stone-hand temple'' after the tightly-clenched hand of the newborn son of the lord of

was opened by a priest from the Annoyō-ji to reveal a stone inscribed "

Emon Saburō is a legendary figure of early ninth-century Japan associated with Kūkai and the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. Legend A mendicant visited the house of Emon Saburō, richest man in Shikoku, seeking alms. Emon refused, broke the pilgrim's b ...

is reborn".

Buildings

* (1318) (

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

) * (late

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

) ( Important Cultural Property) * (late

) (ICP) * (late

) (ICP) * (1333) (ICP) * (

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

) (ICP)

Treasures

* (late

Kamakura Period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

) ( Important Cultural Property) * (1251) (ICP) *

Inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

of 1567 telling the legend of

Casket A casket jewelry box is a container that is usually smaller than a chest, and in the past were typically decorated. Whereas cremation jewelry is a small container, usually in the shape of a pendant or bracelet, to hold a small amount of ashes. ...

housing the eponymous stone.

Notes

References

* Banzai, Mayumi. (1973). ''A Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples in Shikoku Island.'' Tokyo: Kodansha
OCLC 969829
* Miyata, Taisen. (2006). ''The 88 Temples of Shikoku Island, Japan.'' Los Angeles: Koyasan Buddhist Temple
OCLC 740530179
* Reader, Ian. (2005). ''Making Pilgrimages: Meaning and Practice in Shikoku.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
OCLC 56050925
{{Coord, 33, 50, 52.3, N, 132, 47, 47.3, E, region:JP_type:landmark, display=title Buddhist temples in Ehime Prefecture Pagodas in Japan National Treasures of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Shingon Buddhism Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Japan

History

Buildings

Treasures

See also

Notes

References