is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

in the Eigenji-Takano neighborhood of the city of Higashiōmi, Shiga Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the head temple of one of the 14 autonomous branches of the Rinzai school of

Japanese Zen :''See also Zen for an overview of Zen, Chan Buddhism for the Chinese origins, and Sōtō, Rinzai school, Rinzai and Ōbaku for the three main schools of Zen in Japan'' Japanese Zen refers to the Japanese forms of Zen, Zen Buddhism, an orig ...

History

Eigen-ji was founded in 1361 by the famous poet and roshi

Jakushitsu Genkō was a Japanese Rinzai master, poet, flute player, and first abbot of Eigen-ji (constructed solely for him to teach Zen). His poetry is considered to be among the finest of Zen poetry. He traveled to China and studied Ch'an with masters of ...

under the sponsorship of the '' shugo'' of Ōmi Province, Sasaki Ujinori. At its head, the temple had over 2000 priests and 56 chapels on the mountainside. During the Onin War, many priests from the Kyoto Gozan temple sought sanctuary at Eigen-ji; however, the temple burned down in 1492 and again in 1563 and fell into decline afterwards. According to a tradition in Inabe city in Mie Prefecture, a priest from Eigen-ji escaped over the

Suzuka Mountains are a mountain range running through Mie Prefecture and along the borders of Gifu and Shiga prefectures in central Japan. The tallest peak in the range is Mount Oike at . In spite of its height, Mount Oike is not the most visited mountain; that ...

into Ise Province bearing the temple's treasures when the temple was destroyed by

Takigawa Kazumasa Takigawa (written: 滝川, 瀧川, or 多岐川) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Takigawa Kazumasu (1525–1586), Sengoku period samurai retainer * Christel Takigawa (born 1977), Japanese television announcer and ...

on orders of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

in 1570; however, there are no records of such an event at Eigen-ji itself. During the Edo period, the temple was revived by an abbot named

Isshi Bunshu was a Japanese musician and vocalist of Japanese visual kei rock band Kagrra,. History In 1998, along with musicians Izumi and Nao, he founded a Visual Kei rock band called Crow. Two years later, they signed to PS Company and changed the band's ...

from Myōshin-ji in Kyoto, under the sponsorship of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, his consort Tofukumon-in and Hikone Domain. IN 1873, he joined the Tofuku-ji subject of the Rinzai school, but became an independent branch in 1880.

Present day

Today it is the head temple of the Eigen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen and governs more than 120 temples and one monastery.Dumoulin, 205Head Temples The temple is a noted spot for hanami in spring, with a variant of the

sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of Prunus, genus ''Prunus'' or Prunus subg. Cerasus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especia ...

known as the "Eigenji-zakura", and for viewing of maple leaves in the autumn.

Gallery

Eigen-ji (Rinzai temple) - front area landscaping.jpg Eigen-ji (Rinzai temple) - front area.jpg Eigen-ji (Rinzai temple) landscape.jpg Eigen-ji (Rinzai temple) landscape1.jpg Eigen-ji (Rinzai temple) landscape2.jpg Eigenji temple, 永源寺 - panoramio.jpg, Sanmon

References

External links

*
Shiga-Biwako Tourist Information

Notes

{{Authority control Buddhist temples in Shiga Prefecture Eigen-ji temples Higashiōmi