Tennō-ji (Sakaide)

Main hall

Plan of the temple (see text)

The Tennō-ji ( Japanese 天皇寺 ) with the Go Kinkasan (金華山) and Kōshōin (高照院) in the city of Sakaide ( Kagawa Prefecture ) is a temple of the Shingon direction of Buddhism. In the traditional count, it is the 79th temple on the Shikoku pilgrimage route .

history

According to tradition, priest Gyōki founded the temple in the Tempyō era (757-767) on a flank of the Kanayama ( 金山 ). Later, Priest Kūkai is said to have rebuilt the ruined temple in. When the latter came to this area during the Konin era (810-824), a heavenly being appeared at a spring in the form of a child who presented the priest with a pearl. He called the temple built for this purpose Manishuin ( 摩尼珠院 ).

In the year Hōgen 1 (1156), the former emperor Sutoku , who was defeated during the Hōgen rebellion , had to leave Kyoto and came to the province of Sanuki on the run . There he had the main hall of the Chōrei-ji ( 長命寺 ) prepared as a residence. Sutoku, who revered the Amida Buddha very much, died in 1164. Emperor Nijō , who revered Sutoku very much, had a memorial set up for him, which Emperor Saga then relocated to the present location. The temple suffered from the armed conflicts, beginning with the Ōnin war to the conflicts during the Tenshō era (1573-1592). It was then Matsudaira Yorishige ( 松平頼重高 ; 1622–1695), prince of Takamatsu, who looked after the temple.

Due to the separation of Shinto and Buddhism ( Shinbutsu-Bunri ) imposed by the Meiji government , the Manishuin was demolished. In 1887 the kōshōin was moved to its current location. As Manishuin the Abtbereich is called today.

investment

Next to the main hall (本堂, Hondō; 1) is the hall dedicated to the temple founder, the Daishidō (大師堂; 2). In the northern area of the entire complex, separated by a wall, there is the abbot and monk area (3) and the kōshōin (4). A modern protective structure was built for the holy Jizo , to whom one prays after miscarriages.

In the middle of the temple complex is the Shiramine-gū shrine (白峰宮; 6), which is a special feature of a triple torii (三輪鳥居; 5), i.e. a torii to which a smaller one is added to the right and left. This is only available in Nara and in one other place in Japan. There is a huge sacred tree (7) between the abbot area and the shrine.