Tochoji

Tōchōji Temple, located in Gokushoden-cho, Hakata Ward, is said to have been founded in 806 when Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), returning to Japan after completing his training in Tang China, established it as Japan's oldest temple founded by Kōbō Daishi. The formal name "Tōchōmitsuji" derives from a prayer that "esoteric Buddhism would spread far and wide to the east."

Kūkai himself is said to have carved the principal image of Fudō Myōō, and a statue depicting Kūkai is enshrined in the Daishi Hall.

During the Edo period, the temple became the family temple of the Fukuoka feudal lords, the Kuroda clan, and contains the graves of the second and third lords, Tadayuki and Mitsuyuki.

The "Fukuoka Daibutsu" housed in the Great Buddha Hall is a wooden seated statue completed in 1992, constructed entirely of Japanese cypress. It stands 10.8 meters tall (16.1 meters including the halo), and weighs 30 tons.

It ranks among Japan's largest wooden seated Buddha statues, and its height of 10.8 meters is inspired by the number of human desires and afflictions: 108.

Beneath the pedestal lies a popular experience called "A Journey Through Hell and Paradise," where visitors walk through a completely dark passage.

In 2011, a five-story pagoda made entirely of pure cypress wood and standing 26 meters tall was completed, with Buddhist relics said to have been brought back by Kūkai enshrined in the finial at its peak.

Other notable features include the Hexagonal Hall built in the Edo period (open only on the 28th of each month) and a thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara statue from the Heian period carved from a single block of wood, designated as a National Important Cultural Property.

A statue of Avalokiteshvara with Thousand Hands Bodhisattva (created during the Heian period, carved from a single piece of cypress wood, designated as a National Important Cultural Property and a secret Buddha, normally closed to the public and only open during religious services). Also enshrined are images of Fudō Myōō and Kōbō Daishi, said to have been carved by Kūkai himself (both secret Buddhas).