Seisuiji Temple

Located in Niigata, Sado Island is the sixth-largest island in Japan. Like many other islands, Sado was used from the eighth century as a place of banishment or exile. Its fortunes changed around 1589 when gold mining began on the island.

Seisuiji Temple was founded in 808, during the reign of Emperor Kanmu, by a Buddhist monk from Kyoto who was travelling through Japan on a missionary tour.

The temple’s main hall was strongly influenced by Kyoto’s famous Kiyomizu-dera and uses the same kanji, 清水寺, while being officially known as Seisuiji. Like Kiyomizu-dera, its principal object of worship is the thousand-armed Kannon Bosatsu.