Jigenin Temple

Jigenin Temple

Jigenin Temple (慈眼院) in Hineno, Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture, has a tahoto pagoda of 1271 that was designated a National Treasure on November 14, 1953, and a golden hall of the late Kamakura period designated an Important Cultural Property (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Izumisano City magazine, Jigenin is said to have been founded in 674 at the wish of Emperor Tenmu and stood with many halls as the shrine temple of the neighbouring Hine Shrine, until it was burned in 1585 when Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi attacked Kii. It was later rebuilt by Toyotomi Hideyori, but only the pagoda and the golden hall survive from the earlier temple.

The Two Buildings

The pagoda is a small three-bay tahoto with a cypress-bark roof, four-step brackets on the upper storey and two-step brackets on the lower, and a single room inside with an altar of the same date. The Agency counts it among the representative tahoto of the Kamakura period, and Izumisano City notes that it is counted among the three finest tahoto in Japan.

The golden hall is three bays square under a hipped roof of full tiles with a one-bay porch; the pagoda once stood beside it and was moved to its present site during its Meiji-period repair (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Izumisano City). Each building is described on its own page.

Visiting

No official information on visiting hours or fees was found.