is the head temple of a branch of the

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 ...

religion called Kinpusen-Shugendō in Yoshino district,

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

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 ...

. According to tradition, it was founded by

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 ...

, who propagated a form of mountain asceticism drawing from

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

beliefs. Along with

Ōminesan-ji is an important temple of the Shugendō religion in the village of Tenkawa, Yoshino district, Nara prefecture, Japan. It is located at the Sanjōgatake peak of Mount Ōmine. Along with Kinpusen-ji, it is considered the most important temp ...

Temple, it is considered the most important temple in Shugendō. The temple's main building, the "Zaō-Hall" (''Zaōdō'') dedicated to 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 ...

(蔵王権現), is the second largest wooden structure in Japan after the Great Buddha Hall at

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

. Kinpusen-ji is a junction in a series of stops on

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

routes. A

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

dedicated to

Inari Ōkami , also called , is the Japanese ''kami'' of Red fox, foxes, Fertility (soil), fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and Industrial sector, industry, and general prosperity and worldly success, and is one of the principal kami of Shinto. The nam ...

is attached to the main compound. In 1963, the Temple constructed a hall named Southern Court Mystic Law Hall (''Nanchō Myōhōden'') to appease the soul of the four emperors of the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

and others who lost their lives in many battles since the "Northern and Southern Courts period" (

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, 1336–1392). The principal image is the statue of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

(''Shaka Nyōrai''). In 2004, it was designated as part of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

under the name ''

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the Kii Peninsula in Japan. Selection criteria The locations and paths for this heritage site were based on their historical and modern im ...

''.

Images

File:Kinpusenji niomon2.jpg, Gate with guardians File:Kinpusenji nio2.jpg, Statue of the wrath-filled and muscular guardian

Nio Nio or NIO may refer to: * NI Opera, Opera company * Nio (Buddhism), guardians of the Buddha * Nio Inc., a Chinese electric automobile manufacturer * Nicaraguan córdoba, currency by ISO 4217 currency code * National Institute of Oceanography (d ...

File:Kinpusenji zaodo1.jpg, Zaōdō (Deity: Zaō gongen, "Avatar Zaō") File:Kinpusenji zaodo2.jpg, entrance of Zaōdō File:Zao-Gongen-Kimpusen-Temple-Yoshino.jpg, one of the three Zaō-gongen statues in the Zaōdō File:Kinpusenji zaodo3.jpg, carvings File:Kinpusenji Yoshino Nara08n4272.jpg, Bell tower (Shorō) File:Kinpusenji Yoshino Nara04n4272.jpg, Aizendō (deity: Aizen myōō, Sanskr.

Rāgarāja Rāgarāja () is a deity venerated in the Esoteric and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. He is especially revered in Chinese Esoteric Buddhism in Chinese communities as well as Shingon and Tendai in Japan. Nomenclature Rāgarāja is known to tra ...

) File:Kinpusenji Yoshino Nara03n4272.jpg, Kannondō (deity: Kannon bosatsu, "Bodhisattva

Guanyin 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 ...

") File:Kinpusenji Yoshino Nara06n3200.jpg, Itoku Tenmangu File:Kinpusenji Inari1.jpg, Attached Inari shrine (Deity: Hisatomi Daimyōjin) File:Kinpusenji Inari3.jpg, Inari shrine File:Kinpusenji nanchomyohoden1.jpg, Nanchō myōhō-den File:En no gyoja-Kimpusen-ji.JPG, Statue of En no Gyōja near the Nanchō myōhō-den

References

External links

Official websiteLive camera, Kimpusen-ji, Zaōdō
{{Coord, 34, 22, 5.71, N, 135, 51, 29.40, E, region:JP_type:landmark, display=title Buddhist temples in Nara Prefecture World Heritage Sites in Japan National Treasures of Japan Shugendō

Images

See also

References

External links