Eifukuji

Eifukuji is a Shingon temple in Tamagawa-cho, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, and the 57th temple of the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Pilgrimage. Temple tradition holds that Kukai (Kobo Daishi) opened it during the Konin era (810-824) at the command of Emperor Saga. While performing esoteric fire rituals on Mt. Futo to calm the rough seas of the Seto Inland Sea, Amida Nyorai is said to have appeared on the water; Kukai then enshrined this image as the principal object of worship. From the Showa era onward, the temple has also been venerated for healing ailments of the legs and feet, following accounts of a bedridden boy who was cured at this temple.