Sairin-ji

Sairin-ji is temple 48 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage route and sits beneath forested slopes in Takai. The complex includes a main hall, Enma-do building, bell tower, Daishido hall, and Niomon gate arranged across its grounds.

Emperor Shomu commissioned Gyogi Bosatsu to establish this temple in 741, where he enshrined an eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva statue in the main hall. This statue remains the spiritual centerpiece of the site to this day.

The temple grounds display a stone-engraved haiku by Shiki Masaoka expressing his longing for home during an illness in Tokyo, with references to local medicinal plants. This poem connects personal emotion with the natural landscape around the site.

The temple offers free parking for about 20 vehicles on its grounds. It stands roughly 800 meters from Takanoko Station, which is served by the Iyotetsu Yokogawara Line.

A distinctive bamboo plant grows near the Enma-do building, where parent and child stems remain joined together. Local tradition interprets this natural phenomenon as a symbol of family harmony.