Yamashina Mido, also known as Yamashina Hongan-ji (山科本願寺), was 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 ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

which was used as a fortress by the

Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly co ...

, an organization of warrior monks and lay zealots who opposed

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

rule.

History

The temple was founded by

Rennyo Rennyo (, 1415–1499) was the 8th Monshu (head priest) of the Hongan-ji Temple of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, and descendant of founder Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Buddhists often referred to as the restorer of the sect ( in Japanese). He w ...

, abbot of the

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran ( ...

sect whose preachings spurred the creation of the Ikkō-ikki. Following the 1465 destruction of the chief Jōdo Shinshū temple, the

Hongan-ji , also archaically romanized as Hongwanji, is the collective name of the largest school of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism (which further sub-divides into the Nishi and Higashi branches). 'Hongan-ji' may also refer to any one of several actual temple bu ...

in Kyoto, Rennyo spent roughly a decade in the provinces. He returned to Kyoto in 1478; the construction of the Yamashina Mido was completed in 1483, becoming the center of the Jōdo Shinshū sect. Rennyo remained there for over a decade, leaving in 1496 and traveling to the area now known as

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, where he would found the

Ishiyama Hongan-ji The was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior priests and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. At the t ...

. Over the next several decades, the Yamashina Mido remained the central headquarters of the sect, even as the Ishiyama Hongan-ji and the city of Osaka grew in size and prominence. In the 1530s, the Ikkō-ikki began to undertake attacks on major religious centers in the cities as other bands of Ikkō mobs had done against samurai rulers in the provinces. The mobs attacked the Nichiren Kenpon-ji in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, the

Kōfuku-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is the national headquarters of the Hossō school. History Kōfuku-ji has its origin as a temple that was established in 669 b ...

and

Kasuga shrine is a Shinto shrine in Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is the shrine of the Fujiwara family, established in 768 CE and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The interior is famous for its many bronze lanterns, as well as the many stone lan ...

s in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

, among other sites, and incurred the ire of both clergy and lay adherents to

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 ...

and other sects. Kyoto, meanwhile, had been in the process, for decades, of being rebuilt following the extensive destruction of the city in the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bunmei ...

of 1467-1477. The rising urban merchant class consisted largely of adherents to the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, and tensions soon led to attacks on the Ikkō-ikki in the city. In 1532,

Hosokawa Harumoto was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Muromachi and Sengoku periods, and the head of the Hosokawa clan. Harumoto's childhood name was Sōmei-maru (聡明丸). He was born to Hosokawa Sumimoto, another renowned samurai of the Muromachi era. Early ...

and

Rokkaku Sadayori Rokkaku ( ja, 六角, "six corners" or "hexagon") can refer to several things: * Rokkaku Chuu (市立六角中学校), a fictional school that appears on ''The Prince of Tennis'' *Rokkaku clan The was a Japanese samurai clan Papinot, Jacques Ed ...

led a combination of samurai and townspeople in attacking and destroying the Yamashina Mido. Shonyo, abbot of Yamashina, fled along with many of his followers, taking refuge in the Ishiyama Honganji. He successfully resisted another attack by Hosokawa there, and the Ishiyama Honganji remained the headquarters of the sect for almost fifty years.

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (2005). 'Japanese Fortified Temples and Monasteries AD 710-1602.' Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp9–10. {{coord, 34.98461, 135.812422, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000 Buildings and structures completed in 1483 15th-century Buddhist temples Former Buddhist temples Former buildings and structures in Japan 1478 establishments in Asia 1532 disestablishments in Asia Historic Sites of Japan Jōdo Shin temples Rennyo History of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism in the Muromachi period