Rokuharamitsu-ji Temple

Rokuharamitsu-ji is a temple of the Chizan branch of Shingon Buddhism, with its precincts along Matsubara-dori in Kyoto's Higashiyama district, on the way up to Kiyomizu-dera. Its mountain name is Fudarakusan, it is Temple No. 17 of the Saigoku Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage, and it is also counted among Kyoto's Seven Lucky Gods temples as the home of Benzaiten.

The temple is said to have begun in 951, when the monk Kuya opened a training hall centered on an Eleven-Headed Kannon. During an epidemic in the capital, Kuya is said to have pulled the Kannon statue through the streets on a cart, chanting the nenbutsu and serving tea to the sick. In 963 a great sutra-chanting service for 600 monks was held on the banks of the Kamo River, and some regard this as the true founding. In 977 Chushin renamed the temple Rokuharamitsu-ji, and it flourished as a branch temple of the Tendai school.

In the late Heian period the temple grew close to the Taira clan, from Masamori and Tadamori to Kiyomori, and clan residences filled the area in and around the grounds. When the Taira fled the capital in 1183, the halls caught fire in the spreading blaze, but the main hall alone is said to have survived. The present main hall dates from a rebuilding in 1363, and during the Bunroku era (1593-96) Toyotomi Hideyoshi had it repaired and added the front porch. A dismantling and repair in 1969 turned up about 8,000 small clay pagodas under the foundation platform.

The temple treasures are the real draw. The principal image, a wooden standing Eleven-Headed Kannon, is a National Treasure and a hidden Buddha, 258 cm tall and carved from a single block of wood. It is unveiled once every twelve years, in the Year of the Dragon. The Kamakura-period wooden standing statue of Kuya (Important Cultural Property) is attributed to Kosho, the fourth son of Unkei. It shows the monk walking in straw sandals, with six tiny Amida Buddhas emerging from his mouth. Other Important Cultural Properties, including a statue traditionally said to be Taira no Kiyomori and a seated Jizo, are kept in the Reiwa-kan storehouse, which is open to visitors.

Among the annual events, a tea called Obuku-cha, made with knotted kelp and a small pickled plum, is given out during the first three days of the New Year, and the Kuya Yuyaku Nenbutsu dance prayer is performed in the main hall in December.

The temple is about a 7-minute walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo Station on the Keihan Main Line. Kennin-ji (about 430 m), Kodai-ji (about 820 m) and Yasaka Shrine (about 860 m) are close by, so it fits easily into a day of Higashiyama temples and shrines. The grounds are compact, which makes it a good stop on the way to Kiyomizu-dera or toward Gion.