Enryaku-ji

Enryaku-ji is on Mount Hiei in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. A temple founded by Saicho in the Heian period, it has produced many eminent monks as a place of study and training and is called the 'Mother Mountain of Japanese Buddhism.' Mount Hiei has three areas, Todo, Saito and Yokawa, and the halls and other buildings across them are together called Enryaku-ji. It is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and the building designated a National Treasure is the Konpon Chudo in the Todo area.

It began with the Ichijo Shikan-in that Saicho founded on Mount Hiei in 788. Saicho was born around 767 in Mitsu in Omi Province, now Sakamoto, received the full precepts at Todai-ji in Nara in 785 and then entered Mount Hiei. After studying in Tang China and returning, he gained recognition for the founding of the Tendai school in 806. He died in 822, and seven days later the imperial court approved the granting of Mahayana precepts at Mount Hiei itself. After his death the Ichijo Shikan-in was granted the temple plaque 'Enryaku-ji.'

The Konpon Chudo, descended from this Ichijo Shikan-in, is Enryaku-ji's main hall. The principal image is Yakushi Nyorai. The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that it was originally three small halls, later combined into a single hall. The present hall was rebuilt on the orders of Tokugawa Iemitsu; the Agency gives the rebuilding as 1640, while the official site gives completion as 1642. It is a hip-and-gable building eleven bays wide and six deep, a spacious hall in the Japanese style.

Inside, note the difference between the floors of the outer and inner sanctuaries. The outer sanctuary was used as a worship hall and has a wooden floor, while the inner sanctuary is an earthen floor, with a boundary between them. In the center of the inner sanctuary stand the Ruri altar, with the Soshi altar to the left and the Bishamon altar to the right, and the hall is regarded as a leading example of the Tendai main-hall form. In front of the principal image is the Eternal Dharma Flame, which the official site says has burned for twelve hundred years. The official site announces a major renovation of the Konpon Chudo, so check visiting conditions before you go.

The surrounding buildings also show depth of history. Monju-ro, founded by Ennin on the model of the Wutai Shan hall in China, is a gate that people climbing the Hon-zaka path pass through first. It burned in 1668 and the present building is from after that. The Daikodo is a building moved in 1964 from the Sanbutsudo in Sakamoto at the foot of the mountain, and holds wooden images of the founders of the schools that trained on Mount Hiei. That Honen, Eisai, Shinran, Dogen and Nichiren studied here is why it is called the mother mountain. The official site also introduces the mountain as offering a view over Lake Biwa and the Kyoto townscape.