SIGHTSEEING

This is a Jodo Shinshu (offshoot of the Jodo sect) Honganji sect (of Shin Buddhism) temple. They worship the image of the Buddha Amida Tathagata. This temple was opened in Kinugasa by the servant and bodhisattva of Minamoto no Sanetomo (third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate), Jyouko, the second son of Burou Suzuki. It is said that the second generation high priest moved the temple from Kinugasa to Nagaura, and during the Keichou era (1596-1615) it was moved to its current location. Since then, 11 generation of high priests converted from Shingon (Sino-Japanese esoteric Buddhism) to Jodo Shinshu. The main temple building was built in 1815 by the high priest Ryokaku and was reconstructed during the postwar period. If you climb up the stone steps on right side of the Jyouko Temple, there is a weeping cherry tree on the slope of the mountain. That elegant appearance was chosen as one of the top “100 natural features of Yokosuka”.