Ryozenji Temple (Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 1)

Ryozenji Temple was traditionally founded in the 9th century during the Heian period and is associated with Kukai, the monk who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism and is said to have established the 88-temple pilgrimage route encircling Shikoku. As the first of the 88 official temples, Ryozenji has functioned for centuries as the starting point where pilgrims, known as ohenro, purchase their white pilgrim clothing, wooden walking staffs, and nokyocho stamp books before setting out on the roughly 1,200 km circuit through Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime, and Kagawa prefectures. The temple's main hall, or hondo, enshrines a seated image of Shaka Nyorai (Shakyamuni Buddha) as its principal object of worship, and a separate hall dedicated to Kobo Daishi stands alongside it in the temple's modest but well-kept grounds. The current buildings reflect Edo-period reconstruction and later restoration work, since fire and the passage of centuries destroyed most of the original Heian-era structures common to Shikoku's older temples. Unlike museum-style historical sites, Ryozenji remains an active place of worship, and its curatorial character is experiential rather than exhibit-based: visitors encounter it as pilgrims do, moving through the temple shop, the incense-filled main hall, and the bell tower in the same sequence generations of ohenro have followed. The temple's shop selling pilgrim equipment is itself a continuation of centuries-old practice, supplying the same categories of gear depicted in Edo-period woodblock prints of Shikoku pilgrims. The grounds are compact and well maintained, with the vermillion-trimmed halls and stone lanterns giving a clear sense of a working Shingon temple rather than a preserved ruin.