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Main hall History

Katsuo-ji Temple, located northeast in the mountains further along the Minoh Kaido Road from the centre of present-day Minoh City, was built in 727 (Shinki 4) and is famous for its autumn foliage and as a temple of good luck, and is also famous as the 23rd temple of the ‘Kachi Dharma’ or ‘Saigoku Sanjusanko Pilgrimage’. A stone Otorii gate stands along the Saigoku Kaido Road, about 4 km (1 ri) south of Katsuo-ji Temple, and the town stone placed alongside the approach to the temple to mark the distance to the temple from the Otorii gate is the oldest town stone in Japan and is designated as a national historic site. [Image circa 1964 (Showa 39)].

Katsuo-ji Temple is famous for its autumn foliage. In autumn, the coloured trees can be seen in harmony with the temple buildings.

What is "Engi"?

Engi is a book that describes the origin of the construction of temples and Buddhist statues and legends of profit and merit. While sometimes taking the form of picture scrolls with accompanying pictures, the role of the Engi has long been to induce people's faith through oral tradition and distribution. Many Engi have been handed down at Katsuo-ji Temple and these are known as the ‘Katsuo-ji Engi’. Successive abbots and other concerned persons have continued to reconstruct the Engi in accordance with their own ideas and the circumstances of the time, while relying on the preceding Engi. The following is a new Engi - the 2023 version of the Engi - which summarises the history and traditions of the temple that Katsuo-ji would like to share with you. Please take the time to read it, and while contemplating the long history of Katsuo-ji Temple, please take a tour of the temple grounds.

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