Anraku-ji Temple

Anraku-ji is a Koyasan Shingon temple in Kamiita Town, Tokushima Prefecture. Its mountain name is Onsenzan, meaning hot-spring mountain, and its principal image is Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha. It is the 6th temple of the Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage. According to tradition, Kukai founded it in 815, when the area was known for hot-spring cures. It was burned in the Sengoku period and rebuilt on the present site in the 1650s. The white-walled gate has a bell tower on its upper floor. The main hall enshrines a seated Yakushi Nyorai about 361 cm tall, and the grounds also include a pond garden with a multi-treasure pagoda, a pine called Sakamatsu, linked to a legend of Kukai, and several verse monuments of the poet Taneda Santoka. The temple has lodgings with a capacity of 250. Allow 30 minutes to an hour. It is about 3.4 km from Donari IC with free parking.