Sekkoji Temple, or popularly called “Somedera,” located in Someno, Katsuragi City, Nara Pref. is a Jodo sect temple. The main object of worship is Miroku Nyorai Bosatsu. Legend has it that in about 630, some villagers, who found three glittering stones at this place, grubbed up earth to find Miroku Nyorai Bosatsu. To hear this, the emperor ordered En-no-Ozuno to establish a temple here and named it “Sekkoji.”
In the precinct is a well named “Some-no-I.” One day Lady Chujo, who wanted to weave the Mandala, immersed thread made of lotus stems in this well and then the thread was immediately dyed in five colors. The cherry tree beside the well is named “Itogake Zakura,” on which she hung the tread to dry.
The temple is known as a viewing spot of peonies. From the end of April through the early May, about 500 species of 4,000 peonies are in full bloom. In front of Nan-mon Gate remains the foundation stone of the pagoda existed in the Nara period. The senbutsu (the image of Buddhist deity on a clay tile) of the Hakuho Culture (the end of 7th C. to the early 8th C.) is preserved as the temple’s treasure. Sekkoji Temple is a temple of legends and flowers.