Shobo-ji Temple (Yawata City) (正法寺 (八幡市))
Shobo-ji Temple is a temple of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect, located in Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture. Its sango (literally, "mountain name"), which is the title prefixed to the name of a Buddhist temple, is Tokkozan. Its honzon (the principal image of Buddha) is Amida Sanzon-zo (the image of the Amida Triad).
History
This temple is reported to have been founded in 1191 by Tadakuni TAKADA, who was an immediate vassal of the shogun Yoritomo MINAMOTO and an ancestor of the Shimizu clan which became shake (a family of Shinto priests serving a shrine on a hereditary basis) of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine. Since then it has been a family temple of the Shimizu clan. In 1546 this temple was designated as a place for prayer by the Emperor Gonara.
The Shimizu clan was granted shuinjo (shogunate license for trading) from the Tokugawa shogunate, as the Shimizu clan was the native place of Ieyasu TOKUGAWA's concubine, Okame no Kata, (who was the real mother of Yoshinao TOKUGAWA, an ancestor of the Owari Tokugawa family.)
The Hakkakudo (octagon hall) located at Yawata-takabo, Yawata City, is currently a hall outside the grounds of Shobo-ji Temple, but it was originally built between 1213 and 1219 in the grounds of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine on the order of Zenpoji Yusei, who was a member of the shake (a family of Shinto priests serving a shrine on a hereditary basis) of the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine, before being shifted to the present place following the separation of Buddhism and Shintoism.
Cultural property
Important Cultural Property
Main Hall
Ohojo (Large Guest House)
Karamon (Chinese-style gate)
Daihodo Daijikkyo Sutra
Color painting on silk of Nyorai
Wooden Seated Statue of Amida Nyorai (Amitabha) (currently entrusted to Kyoto National Museum)
Wooden Seated Statue of Gansan Daishi (currently entrusted to Kyoto National Museum)
Location
73, Yawata-shimizui, Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture