Godaisan Chikurinji Temple

This historical temple was founded in 724 by the monk Gyoki at the behest of Emperor Shomu, in reference to the Tang Dynasty's Mt. Wutai. Because Kobo Daishi practiced asceticism on this mountain during the Daido period (806-809), the temple was later designated as the 31st temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.

The main hall, also known as Monjudo because it enshrines Monju Bosatsu (Manjusri), was built in 1644 by Tadayoshi Yamauchi, the second lord of Tosa. It is designated as a national important cultural property.

This beautiful garden is said to have been designed by Muso Kokushi, a high Zen priest, while visiting Tosa in the late Kamakura period (1192-1333). This garden, built along the mountainside surrounding the Shoin, is divided into two sections: the north garden, which is bright and has a tropical atmosphere, and the west garden, which is quiet and serene and is said to be modeled after Mt. Lu and Lake Poyang in China.

Other highlights include the five-story pagoda, which was built in 1980 as a reconstruction of a three-story pagoda destroyed by a typhoon, and is 31 meters high, made entirely of hinoki cypress, and designed in the style of the early Kamakura period.