Torinji Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the Yaeyama Archipelago. It was founded in 1614 by King Shonei, the seventh king of the second Sho dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom, with Kan’o Saido as its founder.
Gongendo Hall is located in the precincts of the temple, and Kumano Gongen (Izanami Jue, Hayatama-no-Mikoto, and Kototo-no-Mikoto) is enshrined.
The bronze mirror used as the sacred object was cast in 1772 and is one of the oldest in Okinawa Prefecture. The roofs of the main hall of Torinji Temple and the Gongendo Hall were originally thatched, but were later replaced with tiled roofs.
Torinji Temple was destroyed by the tsunami of 1771, but was rebuilt the following year, and Gongendo was rebuilt in 1786. Two Niou statues were swept away but were found on the shore of Sakieda Bay.
It was rebuilt in 1881, and the current main hall was reconstructed in 1968.
Gongendo was severely damaged in World War II, but was restored in 1947; in 2006, the Gongendo Temple was damaged by a typhoon and underwent annual conservation repairs.
At the temple gate are the oldest known pair of surviving wood carved statues, the left and right Torinji Nio statues, made in 1737 from ogatama cypress from the Shigesan Archipelago. The left statue is of Kongorikishi and the right is of Mijakujinrikishi.
15 minutes walk from Ishigaki Port