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Local tradition attributes the Kanji temple to the great translator Rinchen Zangpo (Rin-chen-bzang-po; 958-1055). In fact, the temple of the Tsuglagkhang (gTsug-lag-khang) in Kanji is approximately 700 years old and more or less contemporary with the Three-storeyed Temple in Wanla. The Kanji Temple presumably dates from the period when Kanji was part of a local kingdom ruled from Wanla (> Introduction to Wanla).
The Kanji Tsuglagkhang lies at the foot of the cliff of coarse conglomerate rock on which the historic core of the village stands. A cluster of chörten accentuates the location of the temple and visually connects it with the higher up village as well as a further temple and a modern pavilion housing a prayer wheel on the way.
A cavity in the rock underneath the village houses a cluster of chörten which may well go back to the same time as the temple. Their age cannot be deduced exactly, but the variations in their forms, some of them highly unusual, indicate that they are of considerable antiquity. As their fresh whitewash shows, these chörten are still in ritual use.
The Kanji Tsuglagkhang is cared for and used by Skyapa House (more recently known as Kagarpa), one of the three principal houses in the historic core of the village. Konchok Trinlas (KT), the youngest of three brothers, and a former monk, is now responsible for the maintenance of the building.
Although the temple must have been cared for over the centuries for it to have survived at all, during the last century it was neglected when the caretaker family fell on hard times.
The temple is still in use and maintained regularly. However, the outward drift of the east wall and the weight pressure on the roof have caused damages affecting the wall paintings inside the building. The instability of the walls caused cracks, and water seeping through the roof soiled and partly destroyed the paintings.
In 1999 the Achi Association chose the Kanji Tsug-lag-kang as its first monument conservation project because of the temple’s fragile state of preservation and the quality of its interior decoration.
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