Jion-ji, Buddhist temple in Iwatsuki district, Saitama, Japan.
Jion-ji is a Buddhist temple situated on roughly 13.5 hectares of land, with its main hall dating to 1843 and housing a thousand-armed Kannon statue as its primary deity. The grounds feature the typical layout and buildings you would find in a Japanese temple complex.
The temple was founded in the Tencho period between 824 and 834 by the monk Ennin, and later received land grants from Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1591 during the Edo period. These two moments shaped its growth as a major shrine across centuries.
The temple serves as the 12th stop on the 33-temple Bando Kannon pilgrimage route, drawing pilgrims year-round. Visitors experience a place of real spiritual significance within a wider network of sacred sites across the region.
You can reach the temple on foot in about 25 minutes from Toyoharu Station on the Tobu Noda Line, or take a community bus from Higashi-Iwatsuki Station. Getting oriented before you go makes finding your way easier.
The temple preserves remains of Xuanzang, the renowned Chinese Buddhist monk, in a thirteen-tiered granite memorial tower built in 1953. This creates a rare link between Japanese and Chinese Buddhist history in one location.
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