Enryaku-ji (延暦寺, Enryaku-ji) is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō (767–822), also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the Tendai sect of Mahayana Buddhism to Japan from China. The temple complex has underwent several reconstruction...
Hokke-ji (法華寺, Hokke-ji), is a Buddhist temple in the city of Nara, Japan. Hokke-ji was built by Empress Kōmyō in 745, originally as a nunnery temple on the grounds where her father Fujiwara no Fuhito’s mansion stood. According to records kept by the temple, the initial construction went on until around 782. It once...
Ishiyama-dera (石山寺, “Stony Mountain Temple”) is a Shingon temple in Ōtsu in Japan’s Shiga Prefecture. This temple is the thirteenth of the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage. History It was constructed around 747 CE, and is said to have been founded by Rōben. The temple contains a number of cultural assets. The temple possesses two fragments...
Hōryū-ji (法隆寺, Temple of the Flourishing Dharma) is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji (法隆学問寺), or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple was founded by...
Mii-dera (三井寺,御井寺), formally called Onjō-ji (園城寺), is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. It is only a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. The head temple of the Jimon sect of Tendai, it is something...
Kinpusen-ji (金峯山寺, Kinpusen-ji) is the head temple of a branch of the Shugendō religion called Kinpusen-Shugendō in Yoshino district, Nara Prefecture, Japan. According to tradition, it was founded by En no Gyōja, who propagated a form of mountain asceticism drawing from Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. Along with Ōminesan-ji Temple, it is considered the most...
Kōfuku-ji (興福寺, 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. HistoryKōfuku-ji has its origin as a temple that was established in 669 by Kagami-no-Ōkimi (鏡大君), the wife of Fujiwara no Kamatari,...
Mount Ōmine (大峰山, Ōmine-san), is a sacred mountain in Nara, Japan, famous for its three tests of courage. Officially known as Mount Sanjō (山上ヶ岳, Sanjō-ga-take), it is more popularly known as Mount Ōmine due to its prominence in the Ōmine mountain range. It is located in Yoshino-Kumano National Park in the Kansai region, Honshū,...
Murō-ji (Japanese: 室生寺) is a Buddhist temple belonging to the Shingon school, located in the city of Uda, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The temple shows typical aspects of Shingon Buddhism, with its buildings laid on the mountainside of Mount Murō (室生山, Murō-san), and historically served as a place of worship for the Japanese dragon Zennyo...
Saidai-ji (西大寺) or the “Great Western Temple” is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The temple was first established in AD 765 as a counterpart to Tōdai-ji and it is the main temple of the Shingon Risshu (真言律宗) sect...
