Mandara-ji, Buddhist temple in Zentsūji, Japan

Mandara-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon school in Zentsuji, on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The grounds hold several traditional wooden buildings, a bell tower, and a sacred pond arranged in a way typical of Shingon temple layouts.

Founded in 596, the sixth year of Empress Suiko's reign, as Yosaka-dera, the family temple of the Saeki clan from which Kūkai descended, it is held to be Shikoku's oldest temple. Kūkai returned from Tang China, enshrined a mandala he had brought back, installed Dainichi Nyorai as honzon and renamed it Mandara-ji. It prospered under Emperor Go-Horikawa in the Kamakura period, burned in 1560 during the fighting of Miyoshi Jikkyū of Awa, suffered again in the Keichō era and was rebuilt.

The temple's name comes from the two mandalas Kūkai brought back from Tang China and dedicated here; it was formerly called Yosaka-dera. The main image, the Diamond Realm Vairocana, is shown publicly only once a year, on the day the spring equinox period begins. The temple also issues the pilgrimage stamp for the nearby Shichibutsu-ji, whose hall holds seven stone Yakushi Buddhas said to have been carved by Kūkai.

Mandara-ji lies about 4.5 km from JR Zentsuji Station on the Dosan Line, roughly 0.5 km from the Yoshihara junction on Route 48 and 6.2 km from the Zentsuji interchange on the Takamatsu Expressway. Parking is paid and sits beside the Niō gate, with a fee for ordinary cars. There is no lodging (shukubō) at the temple. Passing through the gate, the main hall is ahead, the Daishidō to the left and the stamp office to the right.

The honzon is Dainichi Nyorai (Vairocana), and the temple's name comes from the two mandalas Kūkai brought back from Tang China and dedicated here. The main image is shown publicly once a year, on the first day of the spring and autumn higan periods. The temple also issues the nōkyō stamp for the nearby Shichibutsu-ji, whose hall holds seven stone Yakushi Buddhas said to have been carved by Kūkai.