The Legend of the Cow-Led Pilgrimage to Zenkoji Temple and the Hokkoku Highway

Nunobiki Kannon is a temple famous for the legend of “being led by an ox to visit Zenkoji Temple.”

「Long ago, an old woman who had little faith in Buddha lived in these parts. One day, while she was doing laundry, a cow appeared out of nowhere, hooked the cloth she was washing onto its horns, and took off running. “Stop right there!” she cried, chasing after it desperately, but the cow kept running faster and faster. Finally, it reached the Buddha statue at Zenkoji Temple. There, the old woman realized, ‘Was the cow a messenger of the Buddha?’ From that day on, she became deeply devout.

Later, the cow returned to this land, but a sudden gust of wind blew the cloth against the rocks. To this day, the pattern of the cloth remains on the Nunobiki Cliff."」

This legend became a woodblock print like the one on the right, spreading as a souvenir of Zenkoji Temple and playing a part in the boom of pilgrimages to Zenkoji during the Edo period.

In the late Edo period, commoners were permitted to travel for pilgrimage purposes. Many people formed groups called “Zenkoji Kō” and walked the Hokkoku Highway. Many of these pilgrims veered off the main road, taking this path to visit Nunobiki Kannon.

The “Nunobiki Approach” stretched from the outskirts of Komoro-juku through Hiyori to Shakuzenji Temple on Mount Nunobiki.