Kuinji Temple

Kuinji Temple is a Sōtō Zen temple in Otokoyama, Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, and the family memorial temple (bodaiji) of the Sakai, lords of the Obama Domain. Its grounds hold the cave that Yaobikuni is said to have entered at the end of her life, along with the graves of the successive Sakai lords. In the legend, she ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for eight hundred years.

The temple is a fifteen-minute walk from JR Obama Station, or about ten minutes by car from the Obama IC (interchange) on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway. There is parking, and the grounds sit next to Obama Elementary School.

Yaobikuni Nyūjōdō Cave

The cave is called Yaobikuni Nyūjōdō. The name Yaobikuni joins yao, eight hundred, with bikuni, a Buddhist nun. Nyūjō is a Buddhist term for entering meditative absorption, also used for the death of an eminent monk, and dō means cave.

Yaobikuni is said to have traveled the provinces helping the poor and sowing camellia seeds that grew into flowering trees. After returning to Wakasa, she entered the cave on the temple grounds and died there.

The inside of the cave is closed to visitors (as of August 2026).

Back in the Spotlight with the Chiikawa Movie

Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island was released in July 2026. Neither the author nor the production has stated any connection to the Yaobikuni legend, but the mermaid and the island of its title overlap with it, and the two have been read together on that basis.

A cave that appears in the film resembles this one, and that resemblance is what drew the recent attention. The site itself has been in use since the Sengoku period, long before any of that.

For how the Island Arc (also called the Siren Arc) behind the film relates to the Yaobikuni legend, see the article below.

Related Article

Chiikawa's Island Arc and its Origins Explained & Pilgrimage Sites to Visit

Family Temple of the Sakai, Lords of Obama

Kuinji stands on the site of a fortified residence, later known as the old Obama Castle. It was built in the Sengoku period by Takeda Motomitsu, the shugo (military governor) of Wakasa, at the time he constructed Nochiseyama Castle. Kyōgoku Tadataka, who governed Obama afterward, founded a temple here called Taiunji to house the memorial tablet of his father, Takatsugu.

When Tadataka was transferred to Matsue in 1634, Sakai Tadakatsu took up his post at Obama the same year, moved the remains of his father, Tadatoshi, here, and renamed the temple Kenkōji. The present name, Kenkōzan Kuinji, dates from the Kanbun era (1661 to 1673), when Tadanao, the second Sakai lord, carried out major repairs to the temple halls. He took the name from his grandfather's posthumous Buddhist name.

The Sakai graves occupy a plot of about 600 square meters enclosed on all four sides by an earthen wall. Alongside the graves of the successive lords are eleven graves of Tadakatsu's children, beginning with his eldest son, Tadatomo, and the plots of branch families. The headstones are granite.

Visiting

Opening hours are 9:00 to 17:00, and admission is 400 yen (as of the last update to this page).

Our guide to shrine and temple etiquette covers the basics of visiting.

Planning Trip to Japan

Etiquette When Visiting Shrines and Temples