Admission
Free
Minami, Tokushima Prefecture
At a Glance
Yakuo-ji was founded in 726 and is Temple No. 23 on the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.
Pilgrims drop coins on each of the 136 stone steps (33 for women's unlucky years, 42 for men's, and 61 for age 60) to ward off bad luck. Each step has a character from a sacred sutra buried beneath it.
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Facilities
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The divine spirits venerated at this sacred place
What this place is believed to grant
Fascinating facts about this place
Yakuo-ji was founded in 726 and is Temple No. 23 on the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.
Pilgrims drop coins on each of the 136 stone steps (33 for women's unlucky years, 42 for men's, and 61 for age 60) to ward off bad luck. Each step has a character from a sacred sutra buried beneath it.
The temple's main Buddha statue is called the 'backward-facing Yakushi Nyorai' because it miraculously flew away during a 1188 fire, then returned and entered its case facing the wrong direction after the temple was rebuilt.
Yakuo-ji has named stairways: Onna Yakuzaka, Otoko Yakuzaka, and Kanreki-zaka, each tied to age-based bad-luck beliefs.
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