Kitakamizan Shintsuhoji Shogakuin Temple (Mido Kannon)
Main Image Thousand-Armed Kannon Bosatsu Category Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Impression TagsPurityStillnessWarmth
DescriptionShogakuin, popularly known as Mido Kannon, is a Tendai temple said to have been built as a place of prayer by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro in the early Heian period and opened by Ryokei, a monk from his family. The Main Hall enshrines a Thousand-Armed Kannon said to have been donated as a guardian image by the Nanbu clan when they took control of the area. The temple is also the 32nd station of the Oshu Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage, and the grounds contain Yuhazu-no-Izumi, regarded as the source of the Kitakami River. A legend from the Former Nine Years’ War says that Minamoto no Yoshiie prayed to Kannon and struck a rock with the end of his bow, causing clear water to spring forth. The site is distinctive for bringing together Kannon devotion with the headwaters of one of Tohoku’s great rivers.
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