Hogon-ji Temple

The Hogon-ji Temple is located on the sacred Chikubu Island in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It is part of a temple complex on the revered island. It is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. Also, it is said to have first been built in 724 C.E. under the order of Emperor Shomu. The temple has been rebuilt a few times over the years, with a major rebuilding around 1602 C.E. by the Japanese court officials Toyotomi Hideyori and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The temple looks to be of Amida style architecture. The temple’s gate is originally from the Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto, but was moved to Chikubu Island during the renovations in 1602. The artwork on the temple’s gate has features reminiscent of the Momoyama Period.

The Hogon-ji Temple is special because of its location on Chikubu Island in the Shiga Prefecture in Japan (see fig. 1). Chikubu Island is supposedly one of the places where the goddess Benzaiten, who is related to water and one of the Seven Gods of Luck, lived.

As Benzaiten supposedly had lived on the island since it had formed, the story goes that one day Amaterasu OmiKami, the goddess who is said to have built Japan, appeared to the reigning Emperor Shomu and told him to build structures in order to worship Benzaiten. Thus in 724, the temple complex that includes the Hogon-ji Temple and the nearby Tsukubusuma Hall was originally built. The temple ranks with the Enoshima Shrine in the Kanto Region, and the Itsukushima Shrine in the Chugoku Region as the three great Japanese shrines dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. The area of Lake Biwa and the surrounding mountains are mentioned many times in the famous story of The Tale of Genji.

The Emperor Shomu who had the temple originally built was a practitioner of Buddhism. This is important in that the Hogon-ji Temple was built in honor of the goddess Benzaiten, the Japanese adaptation of the Indian goddess Sarasvati, who is also the goddess of eloquence, learning, military prowess, and a musician. The original temple was rebuilt in 1602 so there is no real documentation on what it actually looked like. However, the rebuilt Hogon-ji Temple strongly resembles the common architectural attributes of a Buddhist Amida Hall. Amida Halls, however, did not reportedly start being built until around 1051 C.E. It is therefore apparent that the style of architecture changed with the reconstruction.

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