Hosshoji Temple

This temple is located in Honmachi, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, and is of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, Seizan Zenrinji school. It is called Daihizan Ichion-in. It was built in 925 (Encho 3) by Fujiwara Tadahira, and was founded by Tendai Zasu Hosshobo Son'i. Generations of Ennin-style abbots were appointed to the temple, and it flourished as a Jogaku temple, but it declined after the Middle Ages, and in the Meiji era, it regained its old name, Kannon-do, and became a nunnery. The principal image, the Senju Kannon statue (national treasure), is a rare "three-faced thousand-armed" statue in Japan, an unusual form with 27 faces and 42 arms, and is believed to have been made when the temple was first built.

[Tamayama Narimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

京都市東山(ひがしやま)区本町(ほんまち)にある浄土宗西山(せいざん)禅林寺派の寺。大悲山(だいひざん)一音院(いっとんいん)と号する。925年（延長3）藤原忠平(ただひら)の建立で、天台座主(ざす)法性房尊意(そんい)を開山とする。代々円仁(えんにん)流の座主が任命され、定額(じょうがく)寺に列して栄えたが、中世以後になると衰退、明治になって観音堂に旧名を復して尼寺とした。本尊の千手(せんじゅ)観音像（国宝）は日本には珍しい「三面千手」とよばれるもので、二十七面四十二手の異形で、創建当初の作と推定される。

［玉山成元］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例