Fujiidera Temple

Fujiidera is a temple of the Shingon Omuro School located in Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture. Its principal image is a Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon) with 1,043 hands, designated as a National Treasure. Famous as a pilgrimage temple on the Saigoku 33 Kannon route, it was founded in 752 by the monk Gyoki under an imperial vow of Emperor Shomu, and it gained devotion as the fifth temple associated with the ancient Fujii (Katsui) clan. Tradition also holds that in 815, Kobo Daishi (Kukai) performed goma fire rituals here to ward off his own misfortune. For the salvation of all beings, he is said to have carved a Yakushi Nyorai statue and built temple halls. The temple’s name is said to derive from the five-colored wisteria that Kobo Daishi planted in front of those halls. Over time, the temple flourished as a Shingon esoteric Buddhist training site and came to have a full shichido-garan (complex of seven main structures). However, it was completely destroyed by warfare between 1573 and 1592. It was revived in 1674 when the Rinzai monk Nanzan Kokushi entered the temple, but another fire in 1832 destroyed all buildings except the principal image. The current buildings were reconstructed in 1860. The grounds also contain the “Hatakake no Matsu (Sanko no Matsu),” a pine associated with the Nanboku-cho period warrior Kusunoki Masashige. According to legend, when Masashige visited the temple to pray for victory, he told his three sons to “combine your strength like the three needles of this pine,” leaving behind a well-known story.