Shigisan Chogosonshiji Temple

Shigisan Chogosonshiji Temple, also known as Shigisan-ji Temple, is a temple built on the mountainside of Mount Shigi with Bishamonten as its principal deity.

Also called the “Tiger Temple,” the temple grounds are filled with tigers. At the entrance is the world’s largest papier-mâché tiger with an electrically operated head.

Shigisan is also famous for cherry blossom viewing, when the entire mountain is covered in pink cherry blossoms.

The shrine is crowded with worshippers during the “Pilgrimage to the Tiger Festival” and the “Tora Festival” (in late February). The shrine grounds are lined with torii (gateways to the Shinto shrine), which are remnants of the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism.

According to tradition, in 582, in the year of the tiger, the month of the tiger, the day of the tiger, and the hour of the tiger, Shotoku Taishi attained Bishamonten, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

In 587, Prince Shotoku founded this temple with Bishamonten as its principal image, which he carved himself, and named it Mt.

In 910, the temple complex was built by Priest Meiren, and after he cured Emperor Daigo of his illness, the temple was designated by the Emperor as a temple to pray for “peace in the temple, protection of the land, and perpetuation of descendants,” and was given the imperial title “Chogo-sonji.

This achievement is depicted in the three-volume “Shigisan Engi Emaki”, a national treasure from the late Heian period (794-1185), which focuses on the miraculous tale of Meiren.

The pagodas include Gyokurain, Seifukuin, and Senjuin. In addition, temple treasures are exhibited in the Reihokan, and every fall, the Engi-emaki scrolls deposited at the Nara National Museum are returned to the museum for exhibition.