Ichijoji

A Tendai sect temple in Sakamoto-cho, Kasai City, Hyogo Prefecture. It is called Hokke-san and is the 26th temple of the Thirty-Three Temples of the Western Provinces. It is said to have been founded by the hermit Hodo. Hodo was one of the 500 immortals (immortals who recited mantras and gained supernatural powers) who lived on Mount Vulture Peak in India, and is said to have left on a purple cloud, come to Japan, and live on Mount Hokke, always reciting the Lotus Sutra and practicing asceticism. One story goes that one day, Tamonten and Gozu Tenjin appeared and used their powers to fly rice into the mountains from a ship carrying rice for government tax. Also, Hodo was invited to the temple to treat Emperor Kokutoku's illness, and was said to have been effective in treating it, so after the restoration of peace, a temple was built by imperial decree in 650 (Hakuchi 1). It is said that Emperors Shomu, Kōken, Ninmyo, and Godaigo visited the temple and designated it as a place of imperial prayer, and it was rebuilt and repaired by Akamatsu Yoshisuke and Honda Tadamasa.

The three-story pagoda (national treasure) built in 1174 (Joan 4) is known as a valuable example of architecture from the Heian period, and the Myoken-do, Bentendo, Goho-do, and Gorin-to are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan. The temple's treasures include the famous 10 paintings of Prince Shotoku and other Tendai monks (national treasures), which are colored silk paintings from the Heian period, with the Saicho statue being particularly famous. Other treasures include a colored silk painting of Amida Nyorai, a statue of the Five Myo-o, a bronze statue of Shokannon (2 statues), and a wooden statue of Hodo Sennin (all Important Cultural Properties of Japan).

[Tamura Kosuke]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

兵庫県加西(かさい)市坂本町にある天台宗の寺。法華山(ほっけさん)と号す。西国(さいごく)三十三所第26番札所。法道仙人の創立と伝える。法道はインドの霊鷲山(りょうじゅせん)に住んでいた500人の持明仙（真言を誦呪(じゅじゅ)し、神通力(じんずうりき)を得た仙人）の一人で、紫雲に乗って出、日本にきて法華山に住し、つねに法華を誦し、修行をしていたという。ある日、多聞天(たもんてん)や牛頭(ごず)天神が現れ、官租の米を運ぶ船から通力によって山中に米を飛ばした話などが伝えられている。また、法道は招かれて孝徳天皇の病を加護して効験があったため、平復ののち、650年（白雉1）勅令により寺が建てられたのが起源であるという。聖武(しょうむ)、孝謙(こうけん)、仁明(にんみょう)、後醍醐(ごだいご)天皇が臨幸し、勅願所(ちょくがんじょ)と定めたと伝え、赤松義祐(よしすけ)、本多忠政によって再興、修理された。

　1174年（承安4）建立の三重塔（国宝）は平安時代の貴重な建築として知られるほか、妙見堂、弁天堂、護法堂、五輪塔は国の重要文化財に指定されている。寺宝には、平安時代の絹本著色画像として名高い「聖徳太子および天台高僧像」10幅（国宝）があり、とくに最澄(さいちょう)像は有名である。そのほか絹本著色阿弥陀如来(あみだにょらい)像、五明王像、銅造聖観音(しょうかんのん)像（2躯(く)）、木造法道仙人像（いずれも国の重要文化財）などがある。

［田村晃祐］

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