Leather Saint - Kawashounin

…Gyoen was a saint from Yokawa on Mount Hiei, always wearing a deerskin garment and teaching the common people on the streets. At the time, he was called "Kawashiyo-n" or "Kawashi-sei," and this is why this temple was called "Kechi-do." Since Gyoen was a saint who traveled around the country encouraging common people to make a connection with Buddha, the temple had many people of high and low rank who made a connection with Buddha from the time it was founded. In the Middle Ages, the miraculous power of the principal image, the Thousand-Armed Kannon, became known to the world amid the popularity of Kannon faith seeking worldly benefits, and the temple was counted as one of the temples on the pilgrimage to the Thirty-Three Kannon Temples of the Western Provinces and one of the Seven Kannon of Luoyang, and it increasingly attracted the faith of the common people. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Pink Saint" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…行円は叡山の横川（よかわ）の聖（ひじり）で，常に鹿の皮衣をまとい，巷で庶人を教化した。当時，〈皮聖人（かわしようにん）〉とか〈皮聖〉と呼ばれ，これが当寺を革堂と呼ぶもととなった。行円が庶人に仏との結縁（けちえん）を勧めて回国する聖だったので，当寺には創建当初から貴賤の結縁者が多かったが，中世になると，本尊千手観音の霊験が現世利益を求める観音信仰の流行のなかで世に喧伝され，西国三十三所観音巡礼の札所や洛陽七観音の一つに数えられ，ますます庶民の信仰を集めた。…

※「皮聖人」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報