Sojiji is a temple of the Koyasan Shingon sect, known as the 22nd temple of the Thirty-Three Kannon Temples of the Western Provinces. The temple was founded by Chunagon Fujiwara Yamakage, an aristocrat from the Heian period, who is known as the "father of the art of the knife" and the "god of cooking." When Yamakage was a child, his father rescued a large turtle in the Yodo River, and Yamakage's life was saved by the turtle. The temple was founded in 886 (2nd year of the Ninna era) due to a miraculous auspicious event known as the "turtle's return of favor." The main image is the Thousand-Armed Kannon Bodhisattva, which stands on the back of a turtle. The "Yamakage-ryu Knife Ceremony," held every year on April 18th, is a ceremony in which a chef cooks fish with a knife and manabashi chopsticks without touching it with his hands. The highlight of the temple is the elegant knife skills. Within the temple grounds, there is a knife mound where people donate unused knives in hopes of improving their cooking skills.