Sugimoto-dera

Sugimoto-dera (大蔵山観音院杉本寺, Taizō-zan Kannon-in Sugimoto-dera) is a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the oldest temples in Kamakura and, together with Hōkai-ji, the only one of the Tendai denomination. The temple is Number one of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage circuit. Two of the three statues of goddess Kannon it enshrines are Important Cultural Properties. Sugimotodera is nicknamed Geba Kannon ("Dismount Kannon"), because horsemen never failed to dismount from their steeds when they passed by. (According to a different version of the legend, non-believers always fell from their horse when passing in front of the temple.) The temple is a branch temple (末寺, matsuji) of Hōkai-ji.