Myoshin-ji

Myōshin-ji 妙心寺
Main buildings. Left to right: Sanmon, Butsuden, Hattō
Basic information
Affiliation	Buddhism
Website	http://www.myoshinji.or.jp/

External image

妙心寺山内図 "Myōshin-ji temple map" (Japanese)

Myōshin-ji (妙心寺, Myōshin-ji^?) is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji school is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: it contains within it about 3,500 temples throughout Japan, together with a handful overseas, of the approximately six thousand total Rinzai temples, and also has nineteen associated monasteries, of the total of forty monasteries and one nunnery.

The grounds of the temple were formally a palace for the Emperor Hanazono. Hanazono abdicated in 1318 and took the tonsure (became a monk) in 1335, and in 1342 donated the palace to found the temple; the district and many places in the area are named "Hanazono" in his honor. The head temple was founded in 1342 by the Zen master Kanzan Egen (関山慧玄, 1277–1360), third patriarch in the influential Ōtōkan lineage.

Nearly all of the buildings were destroyed in the Ōnin War in 1467. However, many of them have been rebuilt, initially under the leadership of Sekko-Soshin Zenji (1408–1486), the sixth patriarch. The present buildings were primarily built during the following 150 years (late 15th through early 17th century), and today the gardens of Myōshin-ji are a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site.

The temple's bell, known as Okikicho, is the oldest-known example of a Buddhist bonshō ("temple bell") in Japan, as well as being the oldest bell in the world still in use. It was cast in 698.