Tōchō-ji

It was founded by Kūkai in 806, making it the oldest Shingon temple on the island of Kyushu.

According to tradition, Kūkai or Kobo-daishi set up this temple when he came back from China and prayed for the eastward dissemination of Tantric Buddhism.

It was originally situated by the seaside, but after burning down at the end of the 16th century, it was relocated to the present site by Kuroda Tadayuki, the second lord of Chikuzen province.

The temple houses a senju kannon ('thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy', Avalokiteshvara) statue made in the Heian era.

The building is open on the 28th of every month[1] The carving of a daibutsu, or large Buddhist statue, started in 1988 and it took four years to finish.