Tokushima

Shousan-ji Temple in Spring

12th temple along the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Yoshifumi Hara Apr 10, 2015 - 1 min read

<p>Enjoy cherry blossoms on the way to the temple</p>

<p>This statue of Hotei, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, welcomes you at the entrance of the approach</p>

<p>The temple is located in a cedar forest</p>

<p>Statue of Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva (Buddhist monk)</p>

<p>Statue of Manjusri, a bodhisattva (Buddhist monk)</p>

Shousan-ji Temple is the 12th Temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage. This temple is located in a mountainous area, and stands at the second highest altitude among the 88 Temples. In the past, pilgrims had to walk along steep path to get there. But now we can go by car. The road goes through Kamiyama-cho.

Kamiyama-cho is a small town on the outskirts of Tokushima city, and looks like an old Japanese landscape painting with rice fields, a plum orchard, field mustard, a beautiful creek (Akui-gawa Creek), and so on. As I was able to enjoy cherry blossoms on the way to the temple, I visited by motorcycle. The temple hidden in the mist was a thing of beauty.