Meiseki-ji Temple 43 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

Located on a hillside in Seiyo, southern Ehime Prefecture, Meiseki-ji is a pleasant enough temple complex, but strangely unmemorable.

While many of the pilgrimage temples claim Kobo Daishi as their founder in the 9th century, quite a few are attributed to Gyoki a century or more earlier. but Meiseki claims to have been founded in the 6th century.

Since then it has gone through numerous destructions and rebuilding. The current buildings mostly date from late Meiji P

eriod.

There is a nice pair of large sugi trees linked with a shimenawa named as "Married Sugi", but otherwise very little in the way of statuary.

The temple belongs to the Tendai sect and the honzon is a senju Kannon.