Mokujikiyoa (木食養阿)

Mokujikiyoa (year of birth is not clear - December 25, 1763) was a Buddhist monk of Shingon Sect in the mid-Edo period. He hailed from Kyoto.

He initially studied under Eyu, a monk of Sennyu-ji Temple Unryu-in, and became a monk, but in 1711, he went to Mt. Koya and practiced Mokujikigyo, the ascetic practice of abstaining from eating ten kinds of grains, under Mokujikiesho. After travelling to various provinces, he returned to Kyoto and there he practiced nenbutsu (Buddhist invocation) activities, founded Tanukidani Fudo-in in Rakuhoku and Gojozaka Ansho-in Temple and was engaged in the civil engineering work of roads and bridges. In 1741, he was conferred Hokkyo-shonin-i (a honorable title that is given to Buddhist sculptors, painters and poets etc.) and called himself Yoa.

[Original Japanese]