Daikanmitsuji Temple

Introduction

Sendai Daikannon is the principal image of Daikanmitsuji, a Shingon Chizan temple: a white-robed Kannon completed in 1991. Its 100 metres mark the centenary of Sendai's city charter, and the foundation was dug a further 21 metres for the prosperity of the 21st century. She holds a wish-fulfilling jewel in her right hand and a vessel of wisdom-water in her left; the entrance is shaped as a dragon's mouth. The white figure is visible from many points across the city. What makes it unusual is that you can go inside. The interior has twelve levels holding 108 inner Buddhas, thirty-three Kannon and twelve heavenly generals; a lift takes you up and a spiral route leads back down, with windows framing Sendai and, on clear days, the Pacific. It stands on a low rise among the housing and malls of Izumi ward, and glimpsing a hundred-metre Kannon above ordinary streets is one of Sendai's stranger sights.

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