Kiyotaki-ji is a Shingon Buddhist Temple located in

Tosa, Kōchi 270px, Niyodo River in Tosa 270px, Aerial view of Tosa city center is a city located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 26,427 in 12671 households and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The tota ...

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 the 35th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The

Honzon , sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon ( or ), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan. The image can be either a statue o ...

of Kiyotaki-ji is

Bhaisajyaguru Bhaiṣajyaguru ( sa, भैषज्यगुरु, zh, t= , ja, 薬師仏, ko, 약사불, bo, སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ), or ''Bhaishajyaguru'', formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja ("Medicine Master ...

History

According to the temple records, during the 7th year of the

Yoro Yoro, with a population of 25,560 (2020 calculation), is the capital city of the Yoro Department of Honduras and the municipal seat of Yoro Municipality. It is notable for a local event known as Lluvia de Peces, where it is claimed that strong ...

period (723) Gyoki carved the Honzon Bhaisajyaguru and named the temple Keisanmitsu-in Takumoku-ji. (景山密院繹木寺(けいさんみついんたくもくじ)). Later, when Kukai was proselytizing by the temple, upon completing a seven day prayer for good harvest, he struck his staff upon the prayer podium, and spring water burst out creating a pond as reflective as a mirror. Thus, the name of the temple was changed to Iouzankagamiike-in Kiyotaki-ji (醫王山鏡池院清瀧寺(いおうざんかがみいけいんきよたきじ) in reference to the clear waters, roughly translated as “Iou mountain’s mirror pond and clear waterfall temple”. The third son of

Emperor Heizei , also known as ''Heijō-tennō'', was the 51st emperor of Japan,#Kunaichō, Emperor Heizei, Yamamomo Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Heizei's reign las ...

, became a pupil of Kukai after the

Kusuko Incident The , also known as the , occurred in the early Heian period. In 810, Emperor Saga and ex-Emperor Heizei stood in opposition, but Saga's side quickly raised enough troops to resolve the confrontation, making Heizei become a monk. Heizei's lover the ...

. During the third year of the Jogan era (861), he built a grave to pray for his next life at the temple. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

the temple flourished, but by the 4th year of the

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

(1871) the temple was in ruins and not restored until 1880.

References

{{Japan-culture-stub Shingon Buddhism Shingon temples Shikoku Pilgrimage Sites