Ishiyama-Dera Temple

The Ishiyama-dera Four Buildings: Halls from the Keichō Revival

Ishiyama-Dera Temple (石山寺, Ishiyama-dera) is also the official name of a single national designation covering 4 buildings in the temple grounds in Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture: the Mieidō, the Renjo-dō, the Sanjūhassho Gongen Shrine Main Hall and the sutra repository, dating from the mid-Muromachi period to around 1602 and designated together as an Important Cultural Property on December 2, 2008. The designation also includes 1 wooden plaque.

All 4 stand on the slope east and north of the Main Hall. As the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it, the Mieidō sits on the lower terrace, the Renjo-dō lies to its west, the Sanjūhassho Gongen shrine sits above the Renjo-dō, and the sutra repository stands behind the shrine. A short loop before or after visiting the Main Hall takes in all of them.

Shiga Prefecture had already protected them: the Mieidō and the shrine in 1958, and the Renjo-dō and the sutra repository in 2007. The national designation of 2008 brought the 4 together and placed nearly the whole central compound of Ishiyama-dera, around the Main Hall and Tahōtō, under national protection.

Why These Ishiyama-dera Buildings Were Designated

These Ishiyama-dera buildings were designated an Important Cultural Property in 2008. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives 3 reasons. The Mieidō keeps its Muromachi-period frame beneath a refined exterior from the Keichō-era renovation. The Renjo-dō and the Sanjūhassho Gongen shrine together preserve the pairing of a worship hall and sanctuary for a guardian shrine inside a Buddhist temple, along with the way worship was conducted there. And all 4 buildings record the Keichō-era rebuilding that gave Ishiyama-dera its distinctive appearance.

During the Keichō era (1596 to 1615), Lady Yodo funded the repair and rebuilding of halls damaged in the fighting of 1573. The Main Hall's worship hall and the overhaul of the East Gate belong to the same campaign. If the Heian-period Main Hall and Kamakura-period Tahōtō show medieval Ishiyama-dera, these 4 buildings show the Momoyama work that shaped the temple visitors walk through today.

Mieidō: from meditation hall to founders' hall

The Mieidō is believed to date from the mid-Muromachi period. It is 3 by 3 bays under a pyramidal hōgyō roof of cypress bark, with a rear extension and a railed veranda along the front and sides. It began life as a meditation hall with a central altar platform; the whole building was repaired in the Keichō era, and in the mid-Edo period 2 front columns were removed and a long tie beam inserted so that the rear could become the inner sanctuary.

Sources disagree on who is enshrined. The Agency for Cultural Affairs and Ōtsu City list portraits of Kūkai, Rōben and Shun'yū, while the temple's current guide mentions images of Kūkai and Shun'yū, the temple's third abbot.

Renjo-dō: a worship hall over the cliff

The Renjo-dō was built in 1602 and measures 5 by 4 bays, with an irimoya roof now covered in pantiles; the temple says the roof was converted to pantiles in 1811. It was built as the worship hall of the Sanjūhassho Gongen shrine and took its present name after the Meiji period, when a portrait of the Pure Land teacher Rennyo was installed.

Its south side juts out over the cliff on stilts, like the Main Hall. The entrance is on the east gable end, the opposite end is closed, and a broad veranda runs along the north side facing the shrine. That plan made the hall usable for both Shinto and Buddhist rites, and it is valued as a distinct type of guardian-shrine worship hall within a temple.

Sanjūhassho Gongen Shrine Main Hall: traces of bright colour

The shrine's main hall dates from 1602, the same year as the Renjo-dō. It is a wide single-bay sanctuary in the nagare style with a cypress-bark roof, verandas on 3 sides and a flight of 7 wooden steps at the front. Its bracket arms carry unusual carved patterns, and curved ebi-kōryō beams link the front porch to the main body. The temple says it enshrines the 38 emperors from Jinmu to Tenji as the temple's guardian deities.

Surviving traces show that the inner sanctuary was left as bare wood while the outer sanctuary and exterior were painted in brilliant colours, a typical Momoyama treatment.

Sutra repository: a log storehouse on bedrock

The sutra repository is a raised log storehouse, or azekura, which the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates by style to the Keichō era. It is 3 by 2 bays with a gabled pantile roof, and its north side stands directly on exposed bedrock. Octagonal posts are tied by beams, a sill is laid on top, and the logs are stacked in both directions at the same height.

The temple places it somewhat earlier, in the late 16th century, based on its carved beam ends and the curve of its timbers, and calls it the oldest log storehouse in Shiga Prefecture. It once held the temple's great collection of sutras.

What to Look For

At the Mieidō, watch how the bark roof curves up to a single point, and note the top-hinged lattice shutters along the front. At the Renjo-dō, stand on the Main Hall side and look up at the south face to see how it hangs out over the cliff.

The Sanjūhassho Gongen shrine sits just above the Renjo-dō. Go round to the front to see the curved beams of the porch and the patterned bracket arms. Knowing that the exterior was once brightly painted makes it easier to read what the Keichō carpenters intended.

Circle round to the north side of the sutra repository, where the posts stand directly on the rock. The temple says that sitting on the rock with your arms around one of these posts brings a safe childbirth.

Visiting the Four Buildings

All 4 Ishiyama-dera buildings can be viewed from outside whenever the temple is open, once you have paid admission. No regular interior opening is advertised for any of them, and photography of Buddhist images inside halls is prohibited.

Personal photography of the exteriors needs no permit, and the temple lists the Mieidō, the Renjo-dō and the Sanjūhassho Gongen shrine as permitted locations. Watch your footing around the Renjo-dō and the sutra repository, where bare rock breaks through the paths. Directions, opening hours and admission for the whole temple are on the Ishiyama-dera page.