Enjoji Temple

A Mountain Temple on the Old Yagyu Road

Enjoji Temple (圓成寺, also written 円成寺 and Enjō-ji) is a Shingon Buddhist temple of the Omuro school in Ninnikusen-cho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, whose history is usually traced to 1026, when the monk Myōzen enshrined an image of the Eleven-Headed Kannon here. Its mountain name, Ninnikusen, gave the hamlet its name as well. The temple sits roughly halfway along the old Yagyū Kaidō, the hill road that once linked the city of Nara with the castle village of Yagyū.

Five of the temple's structures are designated by the national government. The twin shrine halls Kasugadō and Hakusandō are a National Treasure, while the main hall, the two-storied gate, the Ugajin shrine hall and a stone five-ring pagoda are each an Important Cultural Property. Together they run from the early Kamakura period to the late Muromachi period.

How the Temple Came to Be

An Edo-period temple chronicle claims a founding in 756 by Xulong (Korō), a Chinese disciple of the monk Ganjin, at the wish of the retired emperor Shōmu and Empress Kōken. The same text names Myōzen as the restorer, and his arrival in 1026 is generally taken as the more realistic starting point; the temple itself presents it that way.

In 1112 the monk Kyōgen built an Amida hall here. In 1153 Kanpen of Ninnaji in Kyoto came up the mountain and founded the Ninnikusen line of Shingon practice, and the temple's institutional footing dates from his time.

Fire destroyed most of the halls in 1466, a disaster the temple associates with the fighting of the Ōnin era. Rebuilding started at once under Eikō of the sub-temple Chion-in, and by his death in 1487 14 halls stood again. The present gate and main hall belong to that recovery.

Under the Tokugawa shoguns the temple held lands of 235 koku and 23 sub-temples. After the Meiji Restoration it declined fast; by 1877 only the main hall, the gate, the goma hall, a Kannon hall and three guardian shrines remained. Major repairs to the gate and main hall began after 1882, and further work through the Showa era produced the grounds seen today.

Finding Your Way Around

Cross the road from the Ninnikusen bus stop and the first thing you meet is a pond garden, which the temple dates to the late Heian period, in Kanpen's time. Beyond the pond, on higher ground to the north, stands the vermilion two-storied gate that serves as the entrance.

Through the gate, the main hall faces you. East of it, up a stone retaining wall, the matching Kasugadō and Hakusandō stand side by side, and just east of them the Ugajin shrine hall sits inside a protective shed. Walking from pond to gate to main hall to the guardian shrines, south to north and low to high, makes the relationship between the buildings easy to read.

The grounds also hold a tahōtō pagoda rebuilt in 1990, a goma hall, a bell tower and a worship hall for the guardian shrines. The temple also owns the seated Dainichi Nyorai attributed to the sculptor Unkei, a National Treasure in its own right.

The five-ring pagoda is the one designated structure outside the precinct. It stands on a rise in the middle of the village cemetery, about 200 metres southwest of the temple.

Visiting

Enjoji Temple is open every day of the year from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with admission taken until 5:00 p.m. Entry costs 500 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior and senior high school students and 100 yen for elementary school children; groups of 30 or more pay 450 yen and 350 yen respectively.

Photography of the Buddhist statues and paintings inside the halls is not allowed. Conditions for each building are given on its own page.

From the west exit of JR Nara Station or from Kintetsu Nara Station, take a Nara Kotsu bus bound for Yagyū, Ōjinakamura or Ishiuchi and get off at Ninnikusen; the temple is right by the stop. The ride takes around 30 minutes, but buses are infrequent, so check the return times before you set out. A taxi from either station takes about 20 minutes, and drivers will find free parking for 20 cars.

Walkers can also approach on foot along the Kasuga Okuyama path (Takisaka-no-michi), a trail lined with stone Buddhas that climbs from the foot of Mount Kasuga behind Nara Park. The temple puts the walk at about 3 hours.