Saidaiji Kannonin is an ancient Shingon Buddhist temple with a history of approximately 1,200 years. Its principal image is the Eleven-Faced Thousand-Armed Kannon Bodhisattva.
The temple’s name, “Saidaiji,” is said to originate from a legend in which a dragon deity entrusted the temple with a rhinoceros horn used in the construction of the temple complex. The current kanji characters for the temple’s name were later bestowed by Emperor Go-Toba.
Saidaiji is especially famous for the “Saidaiji Eyo,” commonly known as the Naked Festival. Designated both as one of Japan’s Three Great Strange Festivals and as a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, the event is renowned throughout Japan and abroad.
On the third Saturday of February, in the midst of winter, around 10,000 men wearing only loincloths gather inside the temple’s main hall—one of the largest wooden structures in the prefecture—to compete fiercely for sacred wooden sticks known as “Shin-gi,” or “Lucky Sticks.”
The spacious temple grounds also feature many highlights, including a three-story pagoda enshrining Dainichi Nyorai and the Chosen Bell, which has been designated a National Important Cultural Property.
If you look up toward the upper part of the grand Niōmon Gate, you will find carvings of the twelve zodiac animals decorating the central transom.
Another notable feature is the stone gate known as the “Ryūshō-rō,” or Dragon Bell Tower, whose appearance evokes the Dragon Palace of legend. Its unusual structure combines a stone first floor with a wooden second floor.
In spring, visitors can also enjoy a locally grown strawberry variety called “Minataru-hime.” Named after Princess Fujiwara no Minataru, who appears in the temple’s founding legend, these strawberries are a specialty found only in this region.