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 ...

of the

Kōyasan Shingon-shū is a Japanese sect of Shingon Buddhism. Headquartered on Mount Kōya in Wakayama Prefecture, it is also the oldest and largest of the eighteen Shingon sects in Japan. The main temple is Kongōbu-ji is the ecclesiastic head temple of Koyasan ...

sect in the Hike neighborhood of the city of Izunokuni,

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

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 ...

. Its main image is a statue of Amida Nyōrai. The temple grounds were designated a National Historic Site on February 14, 1973. The temple is noted for a set of statues by the famed

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle betwee ...

sculptor Unkei which are collectively designated a National Treasure of Japan.

History

Ganjōju-in is located at the eastern foot of Mount Moriyama at an elevation of 100 meters along the Kano River in the

Izu Peninsula The is a large mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The peninsul ...

. Per the '' Azuma Kagami'', Ganjōju-in was founded in 1189 by Hōjō Tokimasa to pray for the victory of the Minamoto forces in their campaign against the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

at Hiraizumi. However, the temple's famed statues by Unkei are all dated 1186, or three years before the campaign, indicating that the temple was actually intended as a '' bodaiji'' for the

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...

. The temple continued to expand during the tenures of Hōjō Yoshitoki and Hōjō Yasutoki, becoming the largest and most important temple in Izu Province during the

. However, the temple's prosperity was short-lived. During the wars of Hōjō Soun in the late Muromachi period, the temple was burned down in 1491 and although reconstructed, was burned down again by the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the 1590 Siege of Odawara. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the temple was rebuilt in by Hōjō Ujisada (1703-1758) '' daimyō'' of

Sayama Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kawachi Province in what is now the southeastern portion of modern-day Osaka Prefecture. It was centered around the Sayama ''jin'ya'' which was located in what i ...

and the present Hondō dates from 1789, although all buildings of the temple were extensively rebuilt in 1967. Then layout of the current temple is consistent with its description in the ''Azuma Kagami'' and per

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s conducted in 1970, the foundations of a number of structures mentioned in the ''Azuma Kagami'' but no longer existent today were located. Excavated old roof tiles and pottery shards are on display at the Nagiyama Folk Museum. The temple is about a 15-minute walk from

Nirayama Station 270px, Platforms is a railway station located in the city of Izunokuni, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan operated by the private railroad company Izuhakone Railway. It is located in the former town of Nirayama. Lines Nirayama Station is served by ...

on the Izuhakone Railway Sunzu Line.

Cultural properties

National Treasures

Ganjōju-in statues by Unkei

Ganjōju-in houses some of the few remaining works which can be definitely attributed to the

sculptor Unkei: wooden images of

Amida Nyorai Amida can mean : Places and jurisdictions * Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of : ** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida ** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Ro ...

, Bishamonten, Fudō Myōō and two attendants. Based on inscriptions found inside the sculptures, this group has been dated to 1186. Since June 19, 2013 these statues have been collectively designated a National Treasure of Japan.

Gallery

Ganjōju-in Hondō.jpg, Hondō Grave of Hōjō Tokimasa.jpg, Grave of Hōjō Tokimasa Grave of Ashikaga Chachamaru.jpg, Grave of Ashikaga Chachamaru

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ganjoju-in Buddhist temples in Shizuoka Prefecture Historic sites in Japan Kōyasan Shingon temples Izunokuni Izu Province National Treasures of Japan 1180s establishments in Japan Temples of Amitābha Shizuoka Prefecture designated tangible cultural property