Enpuku-ji

Enpuku-ji (円福寺) is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Chōshi in Chiba Prefecture. According to tradition, the temple was founded by Kūkai between 810 and 824 AD, and possibly sits on the site of a former temple called Iinuma-ji. According to tradition, in this period Kūkai built a dōu (堂宇) main hall and conducted services at the temple.^[1] Enpuku-ji is the 27th station on the Bandō Sanjūsankasho circuit of temples in Eastern Japan, sacred to Goddess Kannon. The majority of buildings in the temple complex were destroyed during the aerial bombing of Chōshi in World War II.

Cultural Treasures

• Important Cultural Property of Japan
  • Nyō (鐃), a Heian period cast-bronze gong used for Buddhist rituals. Currently housed at the Nara National Museum
• Chiba Prefectural Cultural Property
  • Temple bell (梵鐘, bonshō) carrying the nengō "Kyōtoku 11" (i.e., the 11th year of the Kyōtoku period, 1462)
  • Shaka Nehan-zu, a Buddhist scroll in three parts

Order in Buddhist pilgrimages

Enpuku-ji is the 27th temple in the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, a pilgrimage circuit of 33 Buddhist temples in the Kantō region of eastern Japan dedicated to the Bodhisattva Kannon.

Sources

• "Enpuku-ji". Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei (日本歴史地名大系 “Compendium of Japanese Historical Place Names”). Tokyo: Netto Adobansusha. 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-15. 
• Chiba-ken Kōtō Gakkō Kyōiku Kenkyūkai. Rekishi Bukai. (1989). Chiba-ken no rekishi sanpo (千葉県の歴史散步 "A Walk of Chiba Prefecture's History"). Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha. ISBN 978-4-634-29120-1. 

References

External links

• 真言宗飯沼山　円福寺 (Japanese)
• 第27番　飯沼山 円福寺(飯沼観音) (Japanese)

Coordinates: 35°43′55″N 140°50′26.2″E / 35.73194°N 140.840611°E / 35.73194; 140.840611