Genkoji Temple

Genkoji Temple has been affiliated with nearby Kaijusenji for generations and is managed by that temple today, having had no resident priests of its own since World War II. Records show the temple was rebuilt in 1697, but its origins are older. The principal deity, a wooden Seated Eleven-Headed Kannon carved in the late Kamakura period, is one of very few Kannon statues in Japan depicted seated rather than standing, and is designated an Important Cultural Property. The Four Heavenly Kings enshrined here are also nationally recognized. A scholar-monk's 17th-century visit, finding the main hall in ruins, prompted its reconstruction.