Koganji Temple

Koganji Temple, located in the Sugamo area of Tokyo, was built in 1950 as a temple of the Soto Zen school of Buddhism. It is said that during the Edo period (1603 – 1867), a woman accidentally swallowed a needle, and was able to spit it out after swallowing a portrait of the bodhisattva of the temple. From this, the temple’s bodhisattva statue is known as “toge-nuki jizo” (“toge/とげ” meaning needle; “nuki/抜き” meaning remove”, and “jizo/地蔵” meaning bodhisattva).
Since then, Koganji Temple has been revered as ailment-healing temple. At the “arai-kannon 洗い観音”, or “goddess of mercy washing”, you can use a towel to rub on the area of the statue of the goddess that you want to heal on your own body. Also, since this temple is big on longevity, smoking is banned throughout the temple grounds.
On April 9th of every year, the temple holds a special festival. On that day, the temple grounds serve as a marketplace for foods, clothes and more.