Jizo-in Temple (Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City) (地蔵院 (京都市西京区))
Jizo-in Temple, located in Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City, is a nonsectarian temple of the Rinzai sect. Its sango (literally, "mountain name"), which is the title prefixed to the name of a Buddhist temple, is Kinugasayama. Its honzon (principal image of Buddha) is Jizo Bosatsu. Because it is surrounded by a bamboo grove, it's also known as Take no Tera (a temple of bamboo). It is said that Ikkyu Sojun practiced asceticism here, during his childhood.
History
The temple was built in 1368 by Yoriyuki HOSOKAWA, a busho (Japanese military commander) who was a kanrei (shogunal deputy) of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). Yoriyuki became a believer of Hekitan Shuko (Sokyo Zenji) and entered the priesthood. Although the actual kaisan (a temple founder as the first chief priest) of the temple was Hekitan Shuko, Hekitan treated Muso Soseki, his priest brother, as a kanjo kaizan. The temple's fortunes rose as a chokugan-ji (temple built at the order of the Emperor) in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), but they dwindled after the Buddhist temple was burned down in a fire caused by the Onin War. It was rebuilt in the middle of the Edo period, whereupon it belonged to Tenryu-ji Temple. It used to belong to the Rinzai sect, but in 1968 it became an independent, nonsectarian temple.
Cultural property
Important cultural property
Bronze seated statue of Senju Kannon: Kamakura period
It is a small statue just 27.9 cm high. It is said to be a nenjibutsu (a small statue of Buddha kept beside the person) of Yoriyuki HOSOKAWA's wife.
Cultural properties designated by Kyoto City
Hojo (an abbot's chamber)
Garden: The garden of hojo is a Hiraniwa-style Karesansui garden referred to as 'the garden for Juroku Rakan.'
Address/Access
23 Yamada Kitano-cho, Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
Take a Kyoto bus for Koke-dera Temple/Suzumushi-dera Temple at Kyoto Station, exit the bus at the last stop, and walk for three minutes.