The grave of a poor woman called Oteru is located at Katsuragi Town in
Wakayama prefecture.
The Torodo is a prayer chapel in front of
Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum in Okunoin.
The Torodo was built by Shinzen, Kobo
Daishi’s successor, and rebuilt in 1023 by Fujiwara no Michinaga at roughly its
present size.
The hall contains lamps that have burned continuously
since their donation centuries ago; The Kishin-to donated by the monk Kishin,
the Shirakawa-to donated by the emperor Shirakawa and a lamp known as “ Oteru’s
frame,” donated by a poor woman called Oteru who sold her precious black hair
in order to buy the lamp for the prayer of her parents.
Oteru died at Amano in Katsuragi after the
donation, and the nun Myosyunni made Oteru’s grave in Amano.
It takes about 5 minutes walk from the
Niutsuhime shrine.
