is a major

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 ...

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

, Japan. Founded by

Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...

in 1281 it is today the head temple of

Nichiren Shū Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...

. While the

Ikegami Honmon-ji is a temple of the Nichiren Shū south of Tokyo, erected where Nichiren is said to have died. Also Nichiren's disciple Nikkō spent the rest of his life at this temple. The temple grounds also include Nichiren Shū's administrative headqua ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

is also the Nichiren sect's administrative centre, Kuon-ji today plays an important role as a seminary. Locally it is referred to as the

Minobu is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,674 in 5447 households, and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography Minobu is in south-central Yamanash ...

-san Temple, after the mountain upon which it is built.

History

After returning from banishment to the island of Sado,

returned for a period to

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

, the seat of the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...

which ruled Japan at the time. He was invited by the magistrate Nambu Sanenaga, one of his converts, to relocate to Kai province, where the

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

had its ancestral estates, in 1274. Soon after his arrival Nichiren set up a hermitage that became a centre of learning for his disciples and adherents. The original dwelling became too small and in 1281 Nichiren founded a temple nearby, which he named Minobu-san Hokke-in Kuon-ji. More than half of the extant letters of Nichiren were written during his years at Minobu. Some consisted of moving letters to followers expressing appreciation for their assistance, counseling on personal matters, and explaining his teachings in more understandable terms. Two of his works from this period, the ''Senji Shō'' (撰時抄: "The Selection of the Time") and the ''Hōon Shō'' (報恩抄: "On Repaying Debts of Gratitude") constitute, along with his ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'' (立正安国論: "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"), ''Kaimoku Shō'' ("The Opening of the Eyes"), and ''Kanjin no Honzon Shō'' ("The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind"), what is commonly regarded as his five major writings. In 1282, Nichiren fell ill and his followers encouraged him to travel to a hot spring. En route, he stopped at the home of a disciple in Ikegami, outside of present-day Tokyo, and died in 1282. Following Nichiren's wishes his ashes were brought to the temple and are enshrined in a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

on the temple grounds. The temple grew in popularity as a place of pilgrimage through the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

and

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

s, and in 1712 boasted of 133 chapels within its extensive grounds. However, many of the temple's buildings were destroyed in fires which occurred in 1744, 1776, 1821, 1824, 1829, 1865, and 1875. The present-day temple remains a very large establishment. Over 1.5 million people visit the temple annually. It is reached by bus or car and then climbing the 287 steps known locally as "the steps of enlightenment", which are climbed by chanting

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...

s regularly each year. The blossoming of thousands of

cherry trees A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

, including the hundred-year-old weeping cherry tree in the garden, also makes this temple a popular tourist destination

Cultural properties

National treasure

* , a

hanging scroll A hanging scroll is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit East Asian painting and calligraphy. The hanging scroll was displayed in a room for appreciation; it is to be distinguished from the handscroll, which was narrower and ...

painting on silk attributed to Hu Zhifu from

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

, 13th century, . The painting is current kept by the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage ( :ja:国立文化財機構), is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, ...

Important cultural properties

* , a manuscript consisting of 13 of the 14 volumes of a collection of Chinese poems from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. The text at Kuon-ji is missing the first volume in the set, and was copied in 1276 based on a copy held at

Kanazawa Bunko , formally titled the Kanagawa Prefectural Kanazawa-Bunko Museum, is a museum located in Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama, Japan. It features a collection of traditional Japanese and Chinese art objects, many dating from the Kamakura period. Originally b ...

previously owned by

Hojo Tokimune Hojo or Hōjō may refer to: Hojo or HoJo: *Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels *A nickname for Howard Johnson *A nickname for Howard Jones *A nickname for Howard Jones *MGR-1 Honest John, the first nuclear-capable missile ...

. Designated on June 28, 1984 * Song dynasty copy of the

Book of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book o ...

in two volumes, discovered in the Kuon-ji library by

Tokutomi Sohō was the pen name of a journalist and historian active from late Meiji period through mid-Shōwa period Japan. Named Tokutomi Iichirō at birth, he was the older brother of noted author, Tokutomi Roka. Biography Sohō was born in Minamata, Higo ...

, and corresponding to a section missing from the same manuscript in the possession of

. Designated on May 3, 1955. *Kamakura period hanging scrolls, of the or eight phases in the life of Buddha. Kuon-ji has three of the original eight scrolls in the series. One more is located at the

Nezu Art Museum Nezu may refer to: *Nezu Shrine, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan *Nezu Station, a railway station in Tokyo * Nezu (''My Hero Academia''), a character in the manga series ''My Hero Academia'' * Nezu, a character in the manga series ''Akira'' Peopl ...

. Designated on June 21, 1991.

Registered tangible cultural properties

On May 10, 2018, 19 buildings of Kuon-ji were designated as

Registered tangible cultural properties Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

Gallery

File:身延山久遠寺 - panoramio (2).jpg,

Hondo Hondo may refer to: Places * Rio Hondo (disambiguation), the name of several locations, derived from the Spanish word for "deep" Canada * Hondo, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States * Hondo, New Mexico, an unincorporated com ...

of Kuon-ji File:Minobu kuonji hondo naijin.jpg, Interior of the

of Kuon-ji File:身延山久遠寺 - panoramio (12).jpg, Great Belfry File:身延山久遠寺 - panoramio.jpg, Time-keeping Bell File:身延山久遠寺大奥 - panoramio.jpg, Nio-Mon File:Kuonji_gojunoto 01.jpg, Five-story Pagoda File:Summer Mountain.JPG, National Treasure "Summer Mountain" scroll

References

External links

* Nichiren-shū Japan:
Kuonji Official Website
'
Kuonji Temple official website
Japanese) {{Buddhist temples in Japan Buddhist temples in Yamanashi Prefecture Nichiren Nichiren-shū temples Minobu, Yamanashi