Shobo-ji Temple (Saikyo Ward, Kyoto City) (正法寺 (京都市西京区))
Shobo-ji Temple, located in Saikyo Ward, Kyoto City. is a temple of the To-ji school of the Shingon sect. Its sango (literally, "mountain name"), which is the title prefixed to the name of a Buddhist temple, is Hojuzan. Its honzon (the principal image of Buddha) is Senju Kannon (the thousand-armed Buddhist Goddess of Mercy), who is also known as Sei Kannon (literally, Saint Kannon). It is designated as Rakuyo Sanjusan Kannon Reijo Bangai Fudasho (an extra temple for pilgrimages to collect amulets among the 33 sacred sites in Kyoto dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, as well as Saigoku Yakushi Shijuku Reijo Dai-shijuichi-ban Fudasho (the forty-first temple for pilgrimages to collect amulets among the 49 sacred sites in western Japan dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha).
History
This temple is reported to have originated in bo (a priest's lodge) where Chii Daitoku, who had come from Tang (China) in 754, performed his ascetic practices, and later, where Saicho built a temple during the period from 782 through 806, and where Kukai entered the temple as a priest from 810 to 824. During the period from 1596 to 1615, it was restored by the monk Shitetsu, who strictly adhered to the Buddhist precepts, and it obtained devotions of Keisho-in from Oharano, who was the real mother of Tsunayoshi TOKUGAWA, the fifth Tokugawa shogun of the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).
Cultural properties
Important Cultural Properties
Mokuzo Senju Kannon Ryuzo (wooden standing statue of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Kannon, with a thousand arms): A work created in the early Kamakura period
Height of the Statue: 181 cm
The style of this statue is called 'Sanmen Senju Kannon,' which refers to the statue of Kannon with 1,000 arms and three faces (one front face and two side faces, which are placed behind the two ears). This wasn't deposited in Shobo-ji Temple from the beginning but was transferred from Kuhon-ji Temple in Sonobe-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture.
Location
1102 Minami Kasuga-cho, Oharano, Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
It's a ten-minute walk from the bus terminal of Hankyu Bus bound for Minami Kasuga-cho, from Higashimuko Station of Hankyu Railway.