is a Shingon temple in the southeast of Nara, Japan. Founded in 992, it is the head temple of the Bodaisen Shingon sect.

History

Shōryaku-ji is said to have been founded by , son of

Fujiwara no Kaneie was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Kaneie" in ; Brinkley, Frank ''et al.'' (1915). He also was known as Hōkō-in Daijin and Higashi-sanjō-dono. Career Kan ...

, in 992, at the behest of

Emperor Ichijō was the 66th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 一条天皇 (66)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011. Biography Before he ascended to the Chrysanthem ...

. The temple burned to the ground in the 1180 assault on Nara by

Taira no Shigehira (1158–1185) was one of the sons of Taira no Kiyomori, and one of the Taira Clan's chief commanders during the Heian period of the 12th century of Japan. Following the Battle of Uji in 1180, Shigehira fought in the Siege of Nara, where he burn ...

. Revived the following century, Shōryaku-ji fell into decline in the Edo period and most of the buildings of the garan have been lost.

Buildings

The Hondō and Shōrō are from the Taishō period (1916 and 1925 respectively). The sukiya-style reception hall from Enpō 9 (1681) is an Important Cultural Property.

Treasures

The

honzon , sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon ( or ), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan. The image can be either a statue o ...

, a gilt bronze Yakushi Nyorai of the Asuka period, is a

hibutsu are Japanese Buddhist icons or statues concealed from public view. ''Hibutsu'' are generally located within Buddhist temples in shrines called . They are generally unavailable for viewing or worship, although they are brought out for specific rel ...

. It has been

designated Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's i ...

an Important Cultural Property, alongside a Southern Song celadon bowl excavated from the precinct, and scroll thirty from a Nara-period

Ekottara Agama The Ekottara Āgama (Sanskrit; ) is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka 125). The title ''Ekottara Āgama'' literally means "Numbered Discourses," referring to its organizati ...

, known as or sutras with the red seal of Zenkō, now kept at Nara National Museum. A Kamakura-period Nirvana painting and a pair of scrolls with an Ise Mandala of the Nanboku-chō period are Prefectural Cultural Properties, as are two standing wooden Heian-period bodhisattvas traditionally identified as having come originally from , and a Kamakura-period sculpture of Kujaku Myōō. A Kamakura-period scroll of Yakushi and the Twelve Heavenly Generals is a Municipal Cultural Property and is kept at Nara National Museum.

Flora

The temple's Japanese Chinquapin forest is a Prefectural Natural Monument.

References

External links