Osahiyama

The history of the temple is somewhat shrouded in mystery.

There are very few surviving historical documents on this temple, and the clear history is unknown.

In tradition, it is believed to have two roots.

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One is Heifukuji Temple (Abandoned Temple), which was built in 1570 by the castle owner Yamazaki Saumasuke Tsunemasa near Tateishi Castle, a mountain castle that straddles Shimoda Nakamura and Shiota Village (Sanda City and Kita-ku, Kobe City) during the Sengoku period. It is said that he solicited and enshrined Yakushi Nyorai, who was in the separate hall of Senjozan Shofukuji Temple (abandoned temple).

It is said to be a mountain castle built as a foothold during Hashiba Hideyoshi's attack on Sanda, and there is a view that it was a prayer for victory in battle.

The other is Rendaiji, which was a Jinguji temple in Shiota Hachimangu (present-day Dojo-cho, Kita-ku, Kobe City).

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A long time ago, when Kobo Daishi Kukai stopped at Akasaka Pass in Nashio Village (present-day Nishinomiya City), he heard that there was a shortage of water due to drought, and there is a tradition called Arima no Sansui (Imahigashi Kubo's Dokkosui), a spring water that is said to have been released by poking the earth with a Tokkosho, an Esoteric Buddhist tool he had. Later, it is said that he carved a statue of Eleven-headed Kannon, which is one of Bodhisattva, in one night during his stay in Shiota Village.

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Over time, although the details are unknown, a Kannondo temple called Daishinzan Taninobo Gyokuzoin was built, and this eleven-headed Kannon statue was enshrined.

It is recorded that the statue of Fudo Myōou written by the famous Tendai monk EnchinChisho Daishi (814-891) of the Tang Eight Families was also enshrined there.

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Furthermore, as time passed, in the turbulent era of Onin, destruction progressed and declined, but in the 2nd year of Muromachi Meio (1494), the Taninobo Gyokuzoin was moved to Kawakitayama, and the shrine of Hachimangu (now Shiota Hachimangu) in the area was also rebuilt, and it became the Jinguji Temple of Chinju,which is a kind of Guardian of shrine. However, after the subsequent flood collapse of the bell and the disaster of being burned down, it was rebuilt in the 3rd year of the Edo Meireki (1657) and renamed from Miyabo to Betto-Enichizan Rendai-ji Hozo-in Temple as a branch temple of the Shingon Buddhist Imperial Chamber.

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After that, the temple was abandoned due to the Meiji Restoration's separation of Buddhism and Shinto,which is known as Shinbutsu Bunri and eradicate Buddhism which is known as Haibutsu Kishaku. But the believers in the village cooperated and wished for reconstruction, and in order to solicit an empty temple called Henmyou-in, which was the pagoda-head temple of Manshoji Temple in Kato District, Harima Province (now Ono City), the temple was relocated, and after much difficulty, the relocation of the temple was approved in Meiji 33(1900).

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It is said that he made a vow of "Taihei under heaven, national tranquility, and treasure for a long time", and named the temple "Osahiyama Rendai Temple Henmyou-in" and enshrined the eleven-headed Kannon Bodhisattva.

However, there is no statue of eleven-headed Kannon in the current temple, and the statue of Yakushi Nyorai (Medicine Buddha) is enshrined as the principal Buddha, and it is not clear whether it is from the statue of Heifukuji. The day may come when we will find out by investigating the carving age of this statue.

It is said that the name of the temple "Yamazaki Daishi" is named after the name of Yamazaki Saumasuke Tsunemasa of the predecessor Heifukuji.

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Currently, it is supported by local devoted believers as a prayer temple

of the Koyasan Shingon sect.