Jakko-ji Temple

In the autumn of Nin'an 2 (1167), the poet Saigyo Hoshi was on his way to Tennoji when a cold shower caught him at the village of Eguchi, and he asked for shelter at a poor country house. The mistress of the house, a courtesan named Tae, refused him. Saigyo then made a poem: hard though it may be to renounce the world altogether, you begrudge me even a temporary lodging. Tae answered him with a poem of her own: hearing that you are a man who has renounced the world, I only thought you should not set your heart on a temporary lodging. That exchange of impromptu verses is said to have led Tae to take Buddhist orders later and to spend the rest of her life listening to people's troubles. After her death, as the nun Koso Bikuni, the people of Eguchi are said to have built the Eguchi no Kimi-do to pray for her repose. About forty kinds of well-tended trees grow in the precincts, and the quiet setting makes visitors forget the noise of the city and leaves the mind still.

Translated from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).