Koyasan Kongobuji Temple

On 17th June, hubby and I visited Koyasan Kongobuji Temple in Wakayama prefecture. Koyasan or Mount Koya is a large temple settlement and is a sacred place for Japanese Buddhism. First settled in 816 by monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi), Koyasan is the headquarters of the Koyasan sect of Shingon Buddhism. The town of Koya is located on an 800 meter high plain amid eight peaks of the mountain, and Kukai selected the location for temple monastery because the mountain terrain is supposed to resemble a lotus with eight petals corresponding to the Noble Eightfold Path of the Good Law of Buddhist practices. Kongobuji was originally intended to refer to the entirety of Mount Koya and its many sub-temples. Now Koyasan is known as ‘Issan Temple Grounds’, and currently there are 117 temples on Mount Koya. We visited three sites at Koyasan temple grounds, namely Kongobuji Temple, Danjo Garan Complex, and Daimon. In this post I will write about Kongobuji Temple.

Kongobuji is the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism on Mount Koya. It is part of the ‘Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range’ UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple is located roughly in the middle of the mountain top. The temple was first constructed as Seiganji Temple in 1593 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to memorialize his mother. It was rebuilt in 1863. Two temples Kozanji and Seiganji were combined in the Meiji period in 1869 and renamed as Kongobuji Temple. There are important buildings such as the main worship hall and one of nation’s largest rock garden within the vast grounds of the temple extending over 165000 square meters.

On reaching the car parking area of Koyasan Kongobuji Temple, we saw a mascot character of the place named Koya-kun. Hubby clicked a picture of me with the character.

I am standing next to the mascot character Koya-kun

It took us about two minutes to walk up to Kongobuji Temple from the car parking area. We saw a wooden main gate named Seimon to enter the temple premises. The gate is said to have been rebuilt in 1862. But there is also a possibility that it is the Jomon Gate of Seiganji Temple, the predecessor of Kongobuji Temple, and was constructed in 1680. In the past, only the emperor, members of the imperial family, and high-level Koyasan officials could enter and exit using this gate. We noted that to the right of this gate, there is a small entrance door that is exclusively used by ordinary monks. Nowadays common people can enter the temple premises from any of these two gates.

Approach to Kongobuji Temple

I am standing on the pathway leading to the temple gate

Main Gate Seimon

The gate as viewed from inside the temple premises. The smaller white colored building is the entrance gate used by ordinary monks.

Next we saw Shoro Bell Tower to our right after passing through the main gate. It is thought to be the bell tower of Seiganji Temple and is believed to have been rebuilt in 1864 along with several other temple buildings that were destroyed by a fire in 1860. It is constructed in Hakamagoshitsuki Irimoyazukuri architectural style and is designated as a cultural property of Wakayama prefecture. We loved viewing the details of the wooden bell tower.

Shoro Bell Tower

Right in front of the bell tower, we saw a majestic wooden building named Daishuden. It is the main worship hall of the temple. The current building was built in 1863 and retains the style of its original construction. It is 54 meters east-west (width) and 63 meters north-south (depth). We noted that there are two entrances to the building. The enclosed entrance is called Daigenkan and only the emperor, the imperial family, and Koyasan high-level officials were allowed to enter the main hall though this entrance. While enjoying the architecture of the building, we saw another entrance called Shogenkan which is said to have been exclusively used by lower level Koyasan officials. We clicked several photos of the main hall from various positions and angles.

Daishuden Main Hall as viewed from the west

The main hall as viewed from the east

Hubby is posing along with the main hall

A part of the main hall

I am standing in front of Daigenkan entrance

Shogenkan entrance is indicated by the red arrow

Inside Daishuden Main Hall, we visited many rooms. Ohiroma Room had wonderful paintings of pine trees and cranes adorning Fusuma gilded sliding doors which are said to have been painted by Kano Hogen Motonobu, a painter in the early Edo period. We also visited Yanaginoma Willow Room. The sliding doors of this room were decorated with paintings of willow trees in four seasons by Yamamoto Tansai. Yanaginoma is the place where Toyotomi Hidetsugu, the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was banished and committed suicide. We saw another room named Betsuden, the sliding doors of which were painted by Moriya Tadashi, showing scenes of flowers and birds in the four seasons. We immensely enjoyed seeing the paintings on the sliding doors of various rooms in the main hall. Photography is not allowed inside the building, so unfortunately I do not have any photos of the wonderful paintings of the sliding doors.

While walking in the backside corridor of Daishuden Main Hall, we saw a beautiful rock garden named Banryutei Rock Garden located behind the building. It was built in 1984 and is the largest rock garden in Japan with an area of 2340 square meters. The large granite stones in the garden were brought from Shikoku, the birth place of Kobo Daishi, and the white sand is from Kyoto. The rocks and 140 granite stones are arranged in a way that suggests a pair of male and female of dragons emerging from a sea of clouds to protect the temple. We enjoyed viewing the wonderful rock garden for a long time.

Banryutei Rock Garden

A different place of the rock garden

After enjoying seeing various rooms inside Daishuden Main Hall and the rock garden, we left the temple premises. Next we visited Danjo Garan Complex in Koyasan temple grounds about which I will write in the next post.