is a historic Japanese temple complex with many temples and statues on Mount Misen, the holy mountain on the island of

Itsukushima is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. It is popularly known as , which in Japanese means "Shrine Island". The island is one of Hayashi Gahō's Three Views of Japan specified in ...

, off the coast of

Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The name derives from a market traditionally held on the 20th of each month with ''hatsuka'' (廿日) meaning "20th day" and ''ichi'' (市) translating to "market". The market continues to this day ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. It is the 14th temple in the

Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage The is one of a number of traditional Buddhist pilgrimage routes in Japan. The route includes 33 sites sacred to the boddhisattva Kannon, across the Chūgoku region (Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori prefectures). The 33 Kanno ...

and famous for the maple trees and their

autumn colors Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( ...

. It is also called . Including Mt. Misen, Daishō-in is within the

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Area of

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), best known for its "floating" '' torii'' gate. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)"''Itsukushima-jinja''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 407. It is in the city of Hat ...

. In this temple there is a flame which is said to have been burning since its foundation, for more than 1200 years.

History

*Daishō-in was founded by the monk

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon se ...

, also known posthumously as , in the year 806, the 1st year of the Daidō era. :Kūkai was one of the most famous

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

s in Japan and the founder of

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

. :Made head temple of one of denomination of Shingon Buddhism and the oldest temple on Itsukushima. *By an Imperial order of

Emperor Toba was the 74th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 鳥羽天皇 (74)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Toba's reign spanned the years from 1107 through 1123. Genealogy Before his ascension to the C ...

, it was the place to pray for the peace and security of the nation. *

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

stayed there on July 31, 1885, for his visit to

. *Repair work for the trail to Mt. Misen was finished in 1905. :It was done by the donation of

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...

. *Heavy damage by 19th typhoon on September 27, 1991. *Held a memorial service to congratulate the restoration of the damage on October 10, 1998. *The

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

visited Itsukushima to celebrate the 1200th-year of Daishō-in from 3 to 8 November 2006. There are also many buildings, gates of the temple and many statues of

Kannon Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She w ...

, Jūichimen Kannon, Fudō-myōō (Acala) and

Seven Lucky Gods In Japanese mythology, the Seven Lucky Gods or Seven Gods of Fortune (, shichifukujin in Japanese) are believed to grant good luck and are often represented in netsuke and in artworks. One of the seven (Jurōjin) is said to be based on a historic ...

on and around Mt. Misen. The temple was the administrator of the Itsukushima shrine before

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

forbade (

Shinbutsu bunri The Japanese term indicates the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration which separated Shinto ''kami'' from buddhas, and also Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, which were originally amalgamated. It is ...

) syncretism (

Shinbutsu-shūgō ''Shinbutsu-shūgō'' (, "syncretism of kami and buddhas"), also called Shinbutsu shū (, "god buddha school") Shinbutsu-konkō (, "jumbling up" or "contamination of kami and buddhas"), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan's o ...

) between

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

and Buddhism in 1868.Miyajima Misen Daiso-In Temple, Official Publication, http://www.galilei.ne.jp/daisyoin/

Events

References

External links

Daisyō-in
in Japanese)

Buddhist temples in Hiroshima Prefecture Religious buildings and structures completed in 806 9th-century establishments in Japan Itsukushima Buildings and structures in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Bettoji Temples {{Buddhist-temple-stub

History

Events

See also

References

External links