The three branch offices
Koryuji Temple, which grew with the development of Hakodate, set up many branch offices and sermon offices at the expanded area of Hakodate. Most of them became independent as an individual branch temple, the Koryuji Temple still has three branch offices.
Former Otowa Branch Office
Otowa Branch Office was built in 1805.
The principal image is the Jizo(Bodhisattva). The origin of this Jizo is not clear, such as:
1 A wealthy merchant in Jizo-cho donated the land and the stone Jizo .
2 While the children were dragging around the stone Jizo at the beach and playing with it, their noses shook, so they enshrined it as a "nose-deficient Jizo."
3 The wooden Jizo statue that arrived in Kaminokuni in the Hiyama district was moved to Hakodate and enshrined.
Otowa Hall
After that, It was relocated to the current location of Otowa Town (currently Wakamatsu Town) in 1896 for the purpose of expanding missionary work.
After that, the Otowa Branch Office has caught several fires and has been burned, but after the Great Fire of Hakodate in 1934, it maintained its majesty until 2001.
Completely renovated in 2002, it was reborn as the “Koryuji Otowa Hall” for multipurpose use, and is now used for various events as well as Buddhist affairs.
1-1 Wakamatsucho, Hakodate
0138-22-1352
Yanagawa Branch Office
"Ryukodo"
Mortuary Hall
A memorial service for the dolls
Kuninohana Kindergarten
The Yanagawa Branchl Office was built in 1921. At that time, Hakodate continued to expand inland, so it had the role of missionary in this area.
After that, in 1956, Kuninohana Kindergarten was opened in the precincts. Even now, it has more than 200 kindergartens , and their voices always echoes in the precincts.
In addition, since 1981, a memorial service for the doll has been held once a year, and it is popular as a "doll memorial temple".
In 2007, a barrier-free mortuary hall “Ryukodo” was established.
19-17 Yanagawa-cho, Hakodate
0138-51-3317
Kamiyunokawa Bodhidharma Branch
Kamiyunokawa Bodhidharma Branch was created by only one individual woman. Her name is Kiwa Saito, born in 1977. After bereavement of his husband, she met Bodhidharma in her dream. After that, she deeply adored and believed in Bodhidharma.
she was familiar as "Ms. Saito of Dharma" by handing out bills to the area. After that, she planned the construction of a Bodhidharma garden like Daruma-ji Temple in Nara, and in 1951 she created a statue of Daruma, several statues of other guardians or Buddha. At the same time, she hand-carved enshrined on the premises of his house. It was enshrined here together with the statue.
After Kiwa passed away, this sacred place was kept protected by her daughter, but it was donated to Koryuji in 1997.
In 2015 , 64 years after the Kiwa's work, restoration was carried out and it regained its original appearance.
Every year on October 5th, a memorial service is held by all the monks of Koryuji Temple.
By the way, there is a sign at the entrance that says "3rd place of interest in South Hokkaido".
Unfortunately, the details of this have not been given because it was a legend before the donation to Koryuji.
336 Kamiyunokawa-cho, Hakodate
0138-50-3317