Then they told the Reijōkai (the official association of the 88 temples) that they weren't going to pay annual dues; they wanted the money to stay at home. And voila, you now have a crisis. Long story short, no compromise has been found so the Temple of Wealth and Happiness has been kicked out of the 88 temple pilgrimage. The search is on for a new Temple 62.

As of now, if you are a walking henro, you can still get your stamp book stamped at this temple. But bus tours and anyone being led by an official sendatsu have been told not to stop there. Temple stamps are now being given out in a small shack in a parking lot just outside of Temple 61. :-)

If you can't find the new stamp office by Temple 61, just ask for directions at the stamp office there. But, as you are walking away from Temple 61, walk about 50m past the parking lot with the bathrooms and then look to the left.

If you do visit the old Temple 62, it is attributed to Kōbō Daishi who built it on the orders of Emperor Shōmu as a place to recite the sutras (Hōraku-sho) in Iyo Province. It was called IchinoMiya, the shrine of Iyo Province. Kōbō Daishi is also attributed with having carved the honzon.It was carved in the likeness of Shōmu's Empress, Kōmyō, when she was sick. Shōmu dedicated a sutra he had copied himself to the temple.

The temple was abandoned in the early Meiji Period and restored by a henro named Ryūhen in 1877. Frederick Starr notes that in front of the temple there is a Senju Kannon also carved by Kōbō Daishi.

And now it has been removed from the pilgrimage.