priest Tōkai Gieki (東海義易, 1412–1497), a sixth generation disciple of Kangan Giin, who was a disciple of Dōgen, the founder of the Japanese Sōtō school. In 1264, Giin traveled to Song China in order to present Dōgen's recorded sayings, the Eihei Kōroku, to monks in the Caodong lineage of Dōgen's teacher Tiantong Rujing. Legend claims that as Giin was about to leave China in 1267, he experienced a vision of a goddess riding on a white fox, bearing a jewel on one hand and a shoulder pole laden with sheaves of rice on the other. The goddess identified herself as Dakiniten and vowed to become Giin's protector. Upon his return to Japan, Giin made a statue of Dakiniten based on this vision, which eventually ended up years later in Gieki's possession. Gieki enshrined both it and an image of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) at the temple he established, designating Dakiniten as the guardian (chinju) of the temple complex. Since then, the goddess was widely revered as a patron against calamity and a bringer of relief and prosperity. The temple was patronized in the Sengoku period by Imagawa Yoshimoto, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and by pilgrims from the merchant classes in the Edo period through the modern period. Other notable devotees of Toyokawa Dakiniten include the Edo period magistrate and daimyō Ōoka Tadasuke, whose residence in Akasaka, Tokyo eventually became Toyokawa Inari's Tokyo branch temple, the painter Watanabe Kazan, and Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, who donated a framed sign (扁額, hengaku) in his own calligraphy of the words "Toyokawa Temple" (kyūjitai: 豐川閣, Toyokawa-kaku; shinjitai: 豊川閣). The Toyokawa Mantra Tradition claims that Dakiniten taught Kangan Giin the mantra On shira batta niri un sowaka (唵尸羅婆陀尼黎吽娑婆訶, reconstructed as Oṃ śila bheda nirṛti huṃ svāhā), which is traditionally explained as meaning: "When this spell is chanted, the faith in me reaches everywhere, and by the true power of the Buddhist precepts (śila), evil and misfortune will be abolished and luck and wisdom attained; suffering removed and comfort achieved, and pain transformed into delight." Another possible interpretation is: "I vow to destroy (bheda) all my sufferings (nirṛti?) and overcome temptations with the power of monastic discipline (śila)." This mantra features prominently in services conducted in the temple and in Toyokawa Dakiniten worship in general. Tōkai Gieki and Heihachirō The temple was also known as 'Heihachirō Inari' (平八郎稲荷) due to a story involving its