DISCOVER FUKUI

Soto Zen sect. The principal image is a standing statue of the Eleven-Faced Thousand-Armed Kannon Bodhisattva. This temple originally stood on the site of Chōei-ji Temple (in Tara-shō, Obama City), but it is said to have been relocated to its prese…

• Wakasa

This standing statue of the Eleven-Faced Kannon is carved into a ginkgo tree, estimated to be about 450 years old, standing near the mountain gate of Jōtan-zan Taiō-ji Temple. Believed to save people from all kinds of suffering, it attracts local w…

• Wakasa

Located at the western foot of Mt. Sannō, this shrine is listed in the Engishiki Jinmyōchō. By the late Kamakura period, it received generous patronage from the Uryū clan, lords of Somayama Castle, under whose support the shrine flourished greatly.…

• Tannan

Iwaya Kannon is said to have originated when three statues—the Nyoirin Kannon, the Eleven-Headed Kannon, and the Sacred Kannon—were enshrined in the shadow of a massive rock within the temple grounds. Formerly known as Reigenji Temple, it is also s…

• Eiheiji, Okuetsu

The wooden demon masks (Tsuina masks) of parents and child at Kadashiwa Shrine, believed to date from the late Kamakura period, are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan. They are publicly displayed every February 11th, when the ritu…

• Tannan

A temple protected by Maeda Toshiie, the first lord of the Kaga domain. The cemetery contains memorial towers for Toshiie's parents.Toshie's connection to Takefu (present-day Echizen City) began when Oda Nobunaga, having suppressed the Ikko…

• Tannan

This Jodo-shu temple is a major temple with five sub-temples. It stands on the site of the former Shinshokoji Castle, built during the Nanbokucho period of 1336-1392 by Shiba (Ashikaga) Takatsune, the provincial governor of Echizen Province (presen…

• Tannan

"Writing things down, Opening the fan, What lingering echoes!" This is a gift verse composed by Matsuo Bashō during his journey along the Narrow Road to the Deep North, when he stopped at Tenryū-ji Temple. The Bashō Tomb was erected in 18…

• Eiheiji, Okuetsu

A direct branch temple of Eiheiji, the head temple of the Soto Zen sect, and the family temple of the Sabae domain lords, the Kanbe clan. The ceiling ink paintings "Wind God," "Dragon God," and "Thunder God," painted by the 7th domain lord, Kanbe A…

• Tannan

The principal image enshrined within the altar cabinet at Suisei-ji Temple is a standing statue of the Eleven-Faced Kannon Bodhisattva. Standing 99 cm tall, it is a yosegi-zukuri (joined wood) sculpture. Its elongated face, large, prominent feature…

• Wakasa

This temple is the family temple of Nijōin Sanuki. Within its grounds stands a monument inscribed with the poem selected for the Hyakunin Isshu anthology: "My sleeves, like the tide's ebb, Are never seen. The offshore rock— Though others may know i…

• Wakasa

This shrine was established in 1875 to honor the Mito Tengu Party. Although no shrine hall existed at the time of its founding, a shrine monument was erected in October 1883. Subsequently, with funding from the Marquis Maeda family, the shrine hall…

• Wakasa

A Jōdo Shinshū temple. On January 29, 1865 (Genji 2), after confining the Mito Tengu Party to 16 warehouses, the shogunate established a temporary interrogation area at Eikaku-ji Temple on February 1 and conducted a preliminary investigation. Follo…

• Wakasa

A temple of the Nichiren Shu sect. Originally founded in 810 as a Shingon sect temple, it was converted to Nichiren Shu by Saint Nichiryu in 1426.　Members of the Mito Tengu Party who had surrendered to the Kaga Domain forces participating in the s…

• Wakasa

Sakiji Shrine is an ancient shrine said to have been founded over 1,000 years ago. The Takahama Seven-Year Festival, the largest festival in the Reinan region of Fukui Prefecture held every six years over seven days, is the shrine's festival.

• Wakasa

Zenkei-ji Temple is the family temple of Hashimoto Sainai, a great figure of the late Edo period born in Fukui. Zenkei-ji and Myōkyō-ji were originally located in what is now Ichijōdani before the Edo period, but were relocated to their current sit…

• Awara,Sakai,Fukui

The founding of Kamisunagawa Town, Hokkaido, dates back to Meiji 32 (1899), when it was pioneered by Mr. Jinnosuke Yamauchi, originally from the former Fukui Prefecture village of Utsurimura, along with eight others. The sacred object that once res…

• Awara,Sakai,Fukui

It is said to have been founded by the great master Taichō, and in its heyday was a large temple with seven main halls. Today, it enshrines statues of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and the Thousand-Armed Kannon (both designated as prefectural cult…

• Tannan

As per the words of the deity Ichimon, who said "Do not build a shrine," Wakasa Town's Ichimon Shrine is a rare "shrine without a shrine building" in Japan. It is said that if you make a single wish with a pure heart and tell no one, it will come t…

• Wakasa

Just beside Mikata Station stands the Mikata Stone Kannon. As you climb the stone steps, you'll find a stone rooster partway up. Legend has it that Kobo Daishi, carving the Kannon statue overnight, heard the rooster crow at dawn and left the right …

• Wakasa