Zenkōji 善光寺
In total darkness beneath the altar you grope for a key: whoever touches it is said to be saved.
Founded, according to tradition, in 642, when the Amida triad statue was brought here, believed to have come from Korea in 552: the oldest Buddhist image in Japan, never shown to anyone since the seventh century. The temple does not belong to a single Buddhist sect: it is run jointly by monks of the Tendai and Pure Land sects, the only such case in Japan. The present building, the fifth on the same site and among the largest wooden buildings in Japan after the Daibutsuden of Tōdai-ji, was completed in 1707 after centuries of fires and rebuilding. Every seven years counted the Japanese way (six by the Western calendar) the Gokaichō is held: a copy of the statue is put on display, and pilgrims touch a wooden pillar connected to it by a rope.
Nagano
Zenkojishita, Nagano, Gondo
