YOSHIMINEDERA
善峯寺
YOSHIMINEDERA 善峯寺
Yoshiminedera is a temple nestled in the Nishiyama mountains on Kyoto’s southwest border. From this temple complex one can take in views of the city as well as enjoy cherry blossoms, brilliant azaleas, and hydrangeas in abundance. Home to what is known as the longest pine tree in Japan, Yoshiminedera sprawling grounds are a perfect getaway from the hectic city center.
Yoshiminedera was founded by Gesan, a distinguished Tendai monk, in 1029 as a small private mountain temple. Upon founding the temple he carved the eleven-faced Kannon statue as the main object of worship at the temple. In 1034, Emperor Goichijo Tenno designated the temple as an official protector of the state. In 1042, Emperor Gosuzaku gave the temple a thousand-armed Kannon and Yoshiminedera expanded with many halls built on the hillside.
Within a couple hundred years Yoshiminedera had grown to a sprawling temple complex with over fifty priest’s serving there. Unfortunately,it was destroyed in the Onin War in 1467. For two centuries the temple laid in ruins until the Edo Period, when Keishoin, the mother of the fifth Tokugawa shogun sponsored its rebuilding. Thus, many of the present temple buildings date from this time - the end of the 1600’s.
Originally the daughter of a merchant family from Kyoto, Keishoin became one of the shogun’s concubines and and her status rose as the son she had with the shogun came into power. Keishoin devoted herself to Buddhism in her later years, and the temple grounds have a strong connection to her life.
Even in modern times Yoshiminedera is visited by pilgrims as the twentieth of the thirty-three sites on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a route connecting temples in the Kansai area that worship the bodhisattva of compassion.