Gokuraku-ji (極楽寺) is the head temple of the Ishizuchisan

Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...

and Shugendō sect in Saijō,

Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The principal images are the Amida Triad and

Zaō Gongen A , literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.Encyclopedia of Shin ...

. It is the fundamental training center for Ishizuchisan sect, and has been a major training center for

Shugendō is a syncretic Esoteric Buddhist religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn prim ...

for about 1,300 years.

History

According to temple legend, around 680 AD,

En no Gyōja was a Japanese ascetic and mystic, traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō, the path of ascetic training practiced by the ''gyōja'' or ''yamabushi''. He was banished by the Imperial Court to Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699, but folk t ...

retreated to Mount Ryuo, where he could look up at

Mount Ishizuchi is a mountain on the border of Saijō, Ehime, Saijō and Kumakōgen, Ehime, Kumakōgen, in Ehime Prefecture, Ehime, Japan. This mountain is one of the List of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, 100 famous mountains in Japan. It is the highest ...

, purified himself at Fudogataki waterfall and underwent training. He founded Tengaji Temple, which has the Amida Triad and three Ishizuchi Gongen statues as its principal image, and the temple flourished 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

to the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

. However, at the end of the Muromachi period, Tengaji Temple was burned down in 1350 during the wars of the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, and the head priest at the time, Gyozen Daitoku, ordered his disciple Yuhoshi to find a place to continue the flame of Tengaji's teachings, and passed away. Yuhoshi found this place where he could look up at Mount Ryuo, built a temple, named it Gokurakuji, and protected the flame of the teachings. Later, the central statue of the three Ishizuchi Zao Gongen statues that were the principal image of the temple, Kongo Zaō Gongen, was excavated from the ruins of Tengaji Temple and enshrined as the principal image of Zaoden. Since Gokurakuji was established, two fires have destroyed many of the temple's treasures, but the original images have been preserved, and to this day, goma bonfires are held in front of Ishizuchi Kongo Zaō Gongen in the mornings and evenings. In 2014, the two side statues, Ryuouku Zao Gongen and Muihouku Zao Gongen, which had been lost, were replaced, completing the set. In the Meiji period, the Shinto-Buddhist separation order was enacted, and when Ishizuchisan Zao Gongen betto Zenjin-ji and Ishizuchi-Zaō Gongensha betto Yokomine-ji, both of which enshrine Ishizuchi Gongen, were abandoned (and later rebuilt), this temple was not abandoned, and Ishizuchi faith has continued. Currently, the chief abbot is Kanno Kensho, and the innkeeper is Kanno Kensei.

Gallery

File:Isidutisangokurakuzi11.jpg, Main Hall File:Isidutisan gokurakuzi 01.jpg, Goma Fire Ritual File:Isidutisangokurakuzi15.jpg, Daishido Hall File:Isidutisangokurakuzi21.jpg, The temple at the site of Tenkawa-ji Temple File:Isidutisangokurakuzi22.jpg, Fudogataki Falls

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gokuraku-ji (Saijo) Shingon temples Saijō, Ehime Shugendō En no Gyōja