Domyoji Temple
The principal image of worship at this ancient temple is a statue of the standing Eleven-Headed Kannon (bodhisattva of compassion), a National Treasure.
Domyoji Temple is a Buddhist convent that originated from Hajidera Temple, which was built in the mid-7th century as the clan temple of the Haji clan. This is the place where Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), a descendant of the Haji clan, visited his aunt, Kakujuni, on his way to Dazaifu in Kyushu. When the temple was first built, it was located near the southern approach to the present-day Domyoji Tenmangu Shrine. The foundation of the central pillar of the pagoda still remains there to this day. Later, it was moved to the precincts of Domyoji Tenmangu Shrine due to devastation caused by fires during the Sengoku period (1467–1568) and flooding in Ishikawa during the Edo period (1603-1867). In 1868, the Meiji government enacted an order separating Shinto from Buddhism, and the shrine was finally moved to its current location. The temple’s principal image of worship (honzon) is a statue of the standing Juichimen Kannon (Eleven-Headed Kannon), a National Treasure. It can be viewed on the 18th and 25th every month. The temple is also famous as the birthplace of Domyoji Hoshii (dehydrated rice) and Domyoji-ko (glutinous rice flour), which are known as the ingredients for Japanese sweets such as Kansai-style sakura mochi (Domyoji mochi), a pink-colored rice cake wrapped in a salt-pickled cherry leaf and filled with sweet azuki bean paste.