Kongōrin-ji
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, also known as (from its location) is a
Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...
of the Tendai sect located in the town of Aishō,
Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...
,
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 ''
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 ...
'' of the temple is
Kannon Bosatsu Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
. The temple was founded in the early
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 ...
and together with Saimyō-ji in Kōra and Hyakusai-ji in
Higashiōmi is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 113,229 in 45771 households and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Higashiōmi is located in east-centr ...
the temple forms a group of three temples known as . The complex includes a Main Hall that is designated as
National Treasures A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...
, which contains many statues from the Heian period onwards which are Important Cultural Properties and a garden designated as National Place of Scenic Beauty.


History

The foundation of Kongōrin-ji is not certain. According to the temple's legend, it was founded by
Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-d ...
at the request of
Emperor Shōmu was the 45th Emperor of Japan, emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, duri ...
in 737 or 741AD, but there is no documentary evidence to corroborate this. The area in which the temple was built was under the control of the powerful
Hata clan Hata clan was an immigrant clan active in Japan since the Kofun period (250–538), according to the history of Japan laid out in ''Nihon Shoki'' (720). Origins The origin of the clan has been a debated topic for many Japanese historians and sch ...
, an immigrant clan active in Japan since the
Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...
, and the clan was in no doubt connected with the establishment of the temple. The temple was revived by
Ennin , better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (), was a priest of the Tendai school of Buddhism in Japan, and its third . Ennin was instrumental in expanding the Tendai Order's influence, and bringing back crucial training and ...
and brought into the
Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...
sect during the Kajō era (848-851) of the early
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 ...
. The subsequent history of the temple is not clear, but many Buddhist statues from the late Heian period to the
Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
. remain in the temple. During the Kamakura period, it became a center for ecumenical studies combining the Tendai and the
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- ...
traditions. The current Hondō was constructed by Sasaki Yoritsuna, the '' shugō'' of
Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...
, to commemorate the victory over the
Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to Vassal state, vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attemp ...
. In 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 ...
, the temple was damaged by
Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...
during his attempt to destroy the power of the warrior monks of the Tendai sect at
Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by ...
and other strongholds. However, as the Main Hall and central complex of the temple was several hundred meters from its main gate, most of the temple escaped destruction. During the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
, the temple went into slow decline. During the
Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...
, on January 8, 1868, Saigo Takamori of the
Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...
and the ''
kuge The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...
''
Iwakura Tomomi was a Japanese statesman during the Bakumatsu and Meiji period. He was one of the leading figures of the Meiji Restoration, which saw Japan's transition from feudalism to modernism. Born to a noble family, he was adopted by the influential Iw ...
met at this temple to form the '' Sekihotai'' militia towards the overthrow of the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...
.


Precincts


Main Hall

The temple's Hondō is designated a
National Treasure A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...
. It is a 7 x 7 bay structure with a roof made of cypress bark. The metal fittings on the altar are inscribed with the date of 1288, which corresponds to historical documentation that it had been erected to commemorate the victory over the
Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to Vassal state, vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attemp ...
; however, during investigations conducted in 1988 when the roof was repaired, it was found that this structure was built during the Namboku-chō period, and that the metal fittings were reused from the previous structure. The inner chapel which houses the temple's ''
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 ...
'' is a structure with a ''irimoya''-style roof, also with cypress bark, and which is contemporary with the main building. The ''honzon'' itself is a '' hibutsu'' statue of
Kannon Bosatsu Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
, called the "Namami Kannon", which is attributed to Gyōki. It is so roughly carved as to appear unfinished, but it belongs to a genre known as "hatchet statuary" from the latter half of the Heian period. The Hondō houses a number of statues which have been designated as Important Cultural Properties: *Amida Nyorai, seated, early Kamakura period, 141.2-cm, wooden, dated 1222 *Amida Nyorai, seated, late Heian period, 140.0 cm, wooden *Juichimen Kannon, standing, late Heian period, 172.4 cm, wooden * Fudo-Myoo, standing, wooden, dated 1211 * Bishmon-ten, standing, wooden, dated 1211 * Shi-Tenno, standing, wooden, dated 1212 * Ennin, seated, wooden, dated 1286, (now located at
Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō wards of Tokyo, ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the , is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, prese ...
) * Ennin, seated, Heian period, 84.0-cm, wooden, dated 1288


Three-story Pagoda

The temple's
pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...
is located to the north, and one level higher, than the Hondō. According to the temple, it was built in 1246; however, stylistically it dates from the Namboku-chō period. The pagoda deteriorated severely in the
Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...
and was allowed to fall into ruin; it was repaired and restored from 1975 to 1978, using a similar pagoda at Saimyō-ji in neighboring Kōra as reference. The pagoda has been designated a National Important Cultural Property.


Niten-mon

The temple's main gate was built in the early
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 ...
. It was originally a ''
Rōmon The is one of two types of two-storied gates used in Japan (the other one being the '' nijūmon'', see photo in the gallery below). Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and S ...
'', or two-story tower gate, but as with the three-story pagoda, it was allowed to fall into ruin, and the upper story was lost. It was restored in the Edo period. This structure is also designated as an Important Cultural Property.


Myōjū-in Gardens

280px, Myōjū-in Gardens The was a subsidiary chapel of Kongōrin-ji. It was destroyed in a fire in 1977, but has subsequently been rebuilt. The chapel is noteworthy for its gardens which are a National Place of Scenic Beauty The gardens date from the
Momoyama period Momoyama may refer to: History *Azuchi–Momoyama period, the final phase of the Sengoku period in Japanese history 1568–1600 People * Ion Momoyama, Japanese singer and voice actor * Momoyama Kenichi (1909–1991), Korean prince and cavalry offi ...
and consists of three separate gardens. The first is from the Momoyama period, with a stone bridge in the center and a Kamakura period ''
hōkyōintō A is a type of tō, Japanese pagoda, so called because it originally contained the sūtraIwanami Kōjien Japanese dictionary (or ).Iwanami Kōjien Japanese dictionary A Chinese variant of the Indian stupa, it was originally conceived as a ceno ...
''. The second garden is from the early Edo period and has many stones, and the third is from the middle Edo period and has a pond with a stone in the middle representing a ship.


See also

*
List of National Treasures of Japan (temples) The term " National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote cultural properties since 1897. The definition and the criteria have changed since the inception of the term. The temple structures in this list were designated national treasures whe ...
* List of Places of Scenic Beauty of Japan (Shiga) *
Buddhist temples in Japan Buddhist temples or monasteries are (along with Shinto shrines) the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan.The term "Shinto shrine" is used in contrast to "Buddhist temple" to mirror the distinction made in Japanese bet ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kongorin-ji Places of Scenic Beauty Buddhist temples in Shiga Prefecture National Treasures of Japan Tendai temples Aisho, Shiga