Kakurinji Temple

This is a Koyasan Shingon school temple in Katsuura-cho, Katsuura County in Tokushima Prefecture and is 20th temple of the 88 sacred places on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. It is located high on a mountain with a distant view of the mountains of Awaji and Wakayama as well as the Pacific Ocean and the front avenue is difficult to climb with a sharp slope called the Pilgrim Knock-down. The temple was built by Kobo Daishi in 798. It is said that he found a golden jizo bodhisattva protected by two white cranes in the forest which he placed inside a statue of the jizo bodhisattva that he made himself and this became the principal object of worship at the temple.