Ishiyama-dera

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Buddhist temple in Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan

title: "Ishiyama-dera" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buddhist-pilgrimage-sites-in-japan", "buddhist-temples-in-shiga-prefecture", "ōmi-province", "national-treasures-of-japan", "important-cultural-properties-of-japan", "shiga-prefecture-designated-tangible-cultural-property", "8th-century-buddhist-temples", "tōji-shingon-temples", "buildings-and-structures-in-ōtsu", "pagodas-in-japan", "747-establishments", "religious-buildings-and-structures-completed-in-the-740s", "temples-of-avalokiteśvara", "shugendō"] description: "Buddhist temple in Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishiyama-dera" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Buddhist temple in Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox religious building"]

FieldValue
nameIshiyama-dera
native_name石山寺
imageIshiyamadera29n4272.jpg
captionIshiyama-dera Tahōtō (NT)
map_typeJapan Shiga Prefecture#Japan
relief1
location1-1-1 Ishiyamadera, Ōtsu-shi, Shiga-ken 529-0861
coordinates
religious_affiliationBuddhist
riteShingon-shu Tōji-ha
deityNyōirin Kannon
functional_statusfunctional
website
founded_byRōben
year_completedc.747
footnotes
::

| name = Ishiyama-dera | native_name =石山寺 | image =Ishiyamadera29n4272.jpg | alt = | caption = Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō (NT) | map_type = Japan Shiga Prefecture#Japan | relief = 1 | location =1-1-1 Ishiyamadera, Ōtsu-shi, Shiga-ken 529-0861 |coordinates= | religious_affiliation = Buddhist | rite = Shingon-shu Tōji-ha | deity = Nyōirin Kannon | functional_status = functional | website = | founded_by = Rōben | year_completed = c.747 | footnotes = }} right|thumb|from the picture album "Kannon Reigen ki" ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Hiroshige_Full_moon_over_a_mountain_landscape.jpg" caption="The autumn moon at Ishiyama (石山の秋月), by [[Hiroshige"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Ishiyama-dera,_November_2016.jpg" caption="At night during Koyo"] ::

Ishiyama-dera is a Buddhist temple located in the Ishiyamadera neighborhood of the city of Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Shingon-shu Tōji-ha sect of Japanese Buddhism and its honzon is a hibutsu image of Nyōirin Kannon. The temple's full name is Ishiko-san Ishiyama-dera (石光山 石山寺).The temple is the 13th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route.

History

Prior to the founding of Ishiyama-dera, this area was a quarry in the 660s during the reign of Emperor Tenji. Furthermore, after the Jinshin War in 672, Prince Ōtomo was buried on the east side of the current site of the pagoda. According to the "Ishiyama-dera Engi Emaki", at the request of Emperor Shōmu, Rōben (the founder and chief priest of Tōdai-ji) enshrined a Nyōirin Kannon statue, which was Prince Shōtoku's personal Buddha, here in 747. For the construction of the Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji, Emperor Shōmu needed a large amount of gold to gild the statue's surface. He ordered Rōben to pray to Mount Kinpu in Yoshino for gold. As its name suggests, Mount Kinpu was believed to be a "mountain of gold." One day, Rōben had a dream in which Zaō Gongen of Yoshino appeared to him and told him, "The gold of Mount Kinpu will be used to cover the earth in gold when Miroku Bosatsu appears in this world (5.67 billion years from now) (so it cannot be used to gild the Great Buddha). South of the lake in Shiga County, Ōmi Province, is the land where Kannon Bodhisattva appears. Go there and pray." Following his dream, Rōben visited Ishiyama. Guided by an old man who was an incarnation of Hira Myōjin (also known as Shirahige Myōjin), he placed the six-inch gilt bronze statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Prince Shōtoku's personal Buddha, on a huge rock and built a hut. Two years later, gold was discovered in Mutsu Province, and the era name was changed to Tenpyō-shōhō. Although the miraculous power of Rōben's rituals was thus proven, for some reason the Nyōirin Kannon statue became stuck on the rock. Consequently, a hall was constructed to cover the statue, marking the beginning of the temple. According to documents from the Shōsōin Repository, this Ishiyama site was originally a storage area for timber harvested from various locations, including Kōka and Takashima counties in Ōmi Province, in order to build Tōdai-ji. This legend also appears in other sources include the Genkō Shakusho and the later Shirahige Daimyōjin Engi Emaki (Illustrated Scroll of the Origins of Shirahige Daimyōjin) from 1705.

According to the Shōsōin documents, beginning in 761, the Ishiyama-dera expanded, with staff, including Buddhist sculptors, dispatched from Tōdai-ji and construction of the temple was carried out as a national project and the Hora Palace of Emperor Junnin and Empress Kōken, was located nearby. A new principal image, a clay statue of Nyōirin Kannon was completed between 761 and 762, and the original image was placed inside. The temple's history through the Heian period is unclear, but the temple changed from the Kegon sect to Shingon and became more closely affiliated with Daigo-ji rather than Tōdai-ji. Jun'yu Naigu (890 - 953), the third abbot and grandson of Sugawara no Michizane had a physical disability prevented him from sitting in the proper sitting position, so he devoted himself to his studies and left behind a voluminous body of writing. Many of his handwritten manuscripts remain at the temple, and are collectively designated as a National Treasure (NT). Around this time, pilgrimages to Ishiyama became popular among court ladies, and are described in the works "Kagerō Nikki" and "Sarashina Nikki." Allegedly, Murasaki Shikibu began writing The Tale of Genji at Ishiyama-dera during a full moon night in August 1004. In commemoration, the temple maintains a Genji room featuring a life-size figure of Lady Murasaki and displays a statue in her honor.

On 2 January 1078, the Main Hall was partially burned down by lightning, damaging the clay statue of Nyōirin Kannon. In 1096, the present main hall (NT) was rebuilt, and a new seated Nyōirin Kannon statue (an Important Cultural Property (ICP)) was enshrined. The East Gate, Tahōtō Pagoda, and Shōnan-in Bishamon-dō Hall are weren built in the early Kamakura period with donations from Minamoto no Yoritomo. In February 1573, during the Sengoku period, the temple sided with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the 15th shōgun of the Muromachi shogunate, and rebelled against Oda Nobunaga. Several buildings at Ishiyama-dera were damaged during the subsequent battle and Nobunaga confiscated much of the temple's estates. After Nobunaga's death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned some of the land to the temple in 1596. In 1613, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted the temple 579 koku of estates for its upkeep. During the Keichō era (1596–1615), Yodo-dono restored the temple. Ishiyama-dera was spared the fires that burned the surrounding mountain, and as a result, many valuable cultural assets, including buildings, Buddhist statues, scriptures, and documents, have been preserved.

The temple features as "The Autumn Moon at Ishiyama" (石山の秋月 ja) in the Eight Views of Ōmi thematic series in art and literature; examples include ukiyo-e prints by Suzuki Harunobu in the 18th century and Hiroshige in the 19th century.

Ishiyamadera23n4272.jpg|Ishiyama-dera Wollastonite Ishiyamadera45n4272.jpg|Hondō (NT) Ishiyamadera02s5s3200.jpg|East Gate Ishiyamadera24n4272.jpg|Shōrō Ishiyamadera5474.JPG|Mikage-dō（Kaizan-dō） Omido - Ishiyamadera - Otsu, Shiga - DSC07486.JPG|Interior of Mikage-dō Ishiyamadera16n4272.jpg|Bishamon-dō Shrine above torii - Ishiyamadera - Otsu, Shiga - DSC07501.JPG|Sanju-hachi Gongen Honden Ishiyamadera13n4272.jpg|Daikokuten-dō Ishiyamadera05n3200.jpg|Tsukimi-tei Ishiyamadera rennyodo.jpg|Rennyō-dō Ishiyamadera27n4272.jpg| Hōkyōintō（the one in back is an ICP） Ishiyamadera5438.JPG|Murasaki Shikubu Memorial and Matsuo Basho poem

The temple is about a 10-minute walk from Ishiyamadera Station on the Keihan Railway Ishiyama Sakamoto Line.

Cultural Properties

National Treasures

  • Hondō,, Heian period (1096);
  • Tahōtō,, Heian period (1194);
  • Book of Han, Chronicles of Emperor Gao, Volume 2,, Nara period; two scrolls
  • Shiji, Volumes 96 and 97, Nara period; one scroll
  • Gyōkuhen, Volume 27, Part 2, Heian period; two scrolls
  • The Spring and Autumn Classics, Volume 26, Remaining, Heian period; one scroll
  • The Spring and Autumn Classics, Volume 29, Remaining, Heian period; one scroll
  • Shaku-Maka-en Ron, Tang Dynasty; five volumes
  • Sacred Teachings by Jun'yu Naigu, Heian period; 73 scrolls, 1 volume
  • Enryaku Transition Ceremony, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Enryaku Transition Ceremony, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Remaining Volume of the Record of Grain Distribution in the Etchū Government Warehouse, Heian period; 1 scroll
  • Remaining Volume of the Record of Grain Distribution in the Etchu Government Warehouse, Heian period (908); 1 scroll

National Important Cultural Properties

Structures

  • East Gate, Keichō era (1596–1614);
  • Shōrō, late Kamakura period (1275–1332);
  • Ishiyama-dera structures, including Mikage-dō (御影堂), mid-Muromachi period (1393–1466)Rennyō-dō (蓮如堂) Azuchi-Momoyama period (1602) Sanju-hachi-sho Gongen-sha Honden (三十八所権現社本殿) Azuchi-Momoyama period (1602) Kyōzō (経蔵) Keichō era (1596–1614);
  • Hōkyōintō, early Muromachi period (1333–1392);

Paintings

  • Colored Silk Painting of Fudō Myōō and two Dōji, Kamakura period;
  • Colored Silk Painting of Nehan-zu, Kamakura period;
  • Colored Paper Genji Monogatari, Suetsumuhana chapter,, Edo period ; attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki
  • Colored Paper Ishiyama-dera Engi, Edo period; (Volume 6, 7, Supplementary Copy by Etani Buncho)
  • Ishiyama-dera Tahōtō Pillar Paintings, Kamakura period, 4 pillars

Crafts

  • **Bonshō **, Heian period;

Archaeologucal Artifacts

  • Bronze bell with a kesadasu design, Yayoi period;

Sculpture

  • Wooden Half-Kneeling Statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Heian period;
  • Artifacts found inside Statue of Nyōirin Kannon, Heian period;
  • Wooden Statue of seated Dainichi Nyorai, Kamakura period; located in Tahōtō, made by Kaikei
  • Wooden Statue of seated Dainichi Nyorai, Heian period; formerly located in Tahōtō
  • Gilt-bronze Standing Kannon Bosatsu, Nara period; It was stolen in 1947, and only the torso below the neck was later discovered. The severed head remains missing.
  • Bronze Seated Shaka Nyorai, Asuka period; 13.0-cm
  • Wooden standing statue of Jikokten, Heian period;
  • Wooden standing statue of Zōchōten, Heian period;
  • '''Wooden standing statue of Bishamonten'''', Heian period;
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Vimalakirti, early Heian period; 49.5-cm
  • Wooden Standing Statue of Bishamon-ten, Heian period; 172.5-cm
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Fudō Myōō, Heian period;
  • Wooden Seated Statue of Jun'yu Naiju, Muromachi period (1392–1393);
  • '''Core of a Standing Statue of Zaō Gongen'''', Nara period; Includes a set of sculpture fragments, one halo, and items placed inside the core (one wooden stupa-shaped statue, one wooden reliquary container, and one Heart Sutra inscribed in ink on paper). This core was found inside a clay statue. It was discovered inside the statue of Zao Gongen, the right-hand attendant of the principal image, that dates to the Edo period, the core dates back to the statue's construction in the Nara period

Calligraphy and ancient documents

  • '''Biography of Eizan Daishi'''', Kamakura period;
  • Ten Recitations of the Vinaya (Volume 52), Nara period; dated 768
  • Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, Middle volume, Heian period;
  • Biography of Chisho Daishi, Heian period (1108);
  • '''Amoghavajra's Compilation of Tripitaka Tablets, Volume 3'''', Heian period;
  • The Buddha's Sutra on the Obstacles to Purification of One's Work (by Kibi Yuri), Nara period (766);
  • Abhidharma-ronki, Heian period; 22 volumes by Fukō, 30 volumes by Hoho and 5 volumes by Enki
  • The Aryasarvastivada-Kusha-Sha, Nara period (745);
  • Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, 7 volumes, Heian period;
  • Complete Sutra Collection at Ishiyama-dera, Nara - Muromachi period; 4644 volumes, (with: Miscellaneous Treasure Sutra, Volume 4 (Sutra of the Vows Made on the First Day of May by Empress Komyo), 199 volumes)
  • Ishiyama-dera Arakura Sacred Sutra, Heian - Muromachi period; 1926 volumes in 30 Sutra Boxes
  • A Collection of Japanese Texts, Kamakura period
  • Land Survey Record from the Kenkyu Era, Kamakura period; 2 scrolls
  • Abridged Travels on Paper in Ink (Enchinki), Kamakura period

Shiga Prefecture Designated Tangible Cultural Properties

  • Bishamon-do, Edo period (1773)

Ōtsu City Designated Tangible Cultural Properties

  • Colored silk portrait of Murasaki Shikibu, attributed to Kano Takanobu., Edo period (1773)
  • Ishiyama-dera Chisokuan Collection, Edo period
  • Roof tiles, Edo period; 26 pcs
  • Ancient Roof tiles, Edo period
  • Colored wood panel painting of a tethered horse., Edo period
  • Junrei-satsu, Edo period; five pcs

References

References

  1. Kodansha editorial staff. (2008). "西国三十三所札所会". Kodansha.
  2. Tetsutaro Gosou. (2017). "西国巡礼ー三十三所の歴史と現代の意義". Denki Joho-sha.
  3. Akira Nagata. (2015). "西国三十三所めぐり". JTB Publishing.
  4. Saikoku Fuda-sho Association. (1987). "西国三十三所観音巡礼: 法話と札所案内". Toki Shobo.
  5. "Ishiyama-dera Temple". Taleofgenji.org.

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buddhist-pilgrimage-sites-in-japanbuddhist-temples-in-shiga-prefectureōmi-provincenational-treasures-of-japanimportant-cultural-properties-of-japanshiga-prefecture-designated-tangible-cultural-property8th-century-buddhist-templestōji-shingon-templesbuildings-and-structures-in-ōtsupagodas-in-japan747-establishmentsreligious-buildings-and-structures-completed-in-the-740stemples-of-avalokiteśvarashugendō