Shoman-in (Aizen-san)

The main deity is Aizen Myoo, also known as Aizen-do. It is a branch temple of Shitennoji Temple and the first temple of the Saigoku Aizen Jushichi Saijo (Seaside Province). The pagoda is the oldest wooden structure in Osaka City.

According to legend, the temple was founded as Shoyakuin, one of the four temples in Shitennoji founded by Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi): Keida-in, Shoyaku-in, Kyoyaku-in, and Kida-in. The name “Shoyaku-in” suggests that it was a welfare facility established to cultivate medicinal herbs for the benefit of people’s health.

It is said that the name “Shoyakuin” was derived from the fact that a statue of Lady Shoman was enshrined at the Shoyakuin.

After the Heian period (794-1185), Aizen Myoo came to be enshrined as the main deity in Kondo, and Shoman-in was also called Aizen-do.

In the Kamakura period (1185-1333), Hojo Tokiyori, the fifth regent of the Kamakura shogunate, donated the domain of the temple, and Shingonin was founded by Ninsei at the end of the 13th century.

The temple was destroyed by fire during the Battle of Ishiyama between Oda Nobunaga and Osaka Honganji, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi restored the temple and rebuilt the pagoda.

The temple was again destroyed in the Osaka Summer Battle, but Kondo was rebuilt by Tokugawa Hidetada, the shogun of the Edo Shogunate.

The temple was spared from damage in the 1945 Osaka Air Raid, when the Shitennoji Temple to the east was almost completely destroyed by fire.

The temple is also home to Kondo, rebuilt by Hidetada Tokugawa in 1618; Enmei Jizoson, said to be one of the 60,000 Jizo Bodhisattvas enshrined by Prince Shotoku; Taiho-to, rebuilt by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in 1597 (a National Important Cultural Property); and the Aizen Katsura tree mentioned in the novel “Aizen Katsura” by Matsutaro Kawaguchi.

There is also “Aizen-no-reisui” (spiritual water of love dyeing), which is popular among young women because it is said to make their love come true if drunk.

The Aizen Festival, one of the three major summer festivals in Osaka, is held on June 30 and July 1 and 2 every year.