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 ...

located in the town of Ōtaki in

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

, and is a temple of the

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the '' Lotus Sutra''. Nichiren declared that the '' Lotus Sutra ...

sect. The temple was given its name in 1253, and is a reference to the opening line of the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...

. Myōhōshō-ji is located deep in the

Bōsō Hill Range The is a mountain range on the Bōsō Peninsula of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The highest point in the Bōsō Mountain Range is at Mount Atago, with an altitude of . The hill range runs from roughly in a line from Mobara or Ōamishirasato to ...

in the center of the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

. The temple had fallen into nearly complete ruin by 1904, but was slowly rebuilt starting in 1931 by Nichiren Buddhists.

Hydrangea plantings

Myōhōshō-ji is a popular tourist destination as a result of being an "ajisai-dera", or hydrangea temples. Since 1951 the temple has planted and maintained 20,000 hydrangea bushes as part of a prayer garden, which are in blossom during the month of August. The garden is also well known for its himeharu cicadia population. Myōhōshō-ji is a popular destination to watch the first sunrise on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

Transportation

Myōhōshō-ji is not accessible by public transportation, but is located an hour's drive from Japan National Route 297 between Tateyama and Ichihara.妙法生寺（あじさい寺）

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myohosho-Ji Buddhist temples in Chiba Prefecture Nichiren-shū temples