Sennyū-ji


Sennyū-ji, formerly written as Sen-yū-ji, is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama-ku in Kyoto, Japan. For centuries, Sennyū-ji was a mortuary temple for aristocrats and the imperial house. Located here are the official tombs of Emperor Shijō and many of the emperors who came after him.

History

Sennyū-ji was founded in the early Heian period. According to one tradition, it was founded as Senyū-ji in 855 at the former mountain villa of Fujiwara no Otsugu. According to another tradition, this temple was a reconstruction of an earlier temple, Hōrin-ji, which had been founded by Kōbō-Daishi in the Tenchō era. The major buildings in Sennyū-ji were reconstructed and enlarged in the early 13th century by the monk Shunjō.
Tsukinowa no misasagi
Emperor Go-Horikawa and Emperor Shijō were the first to be enshrined in an Imperial mausoleum at Sennyū-ji. It was called Tsukinowa no misasagi.
Go-Momozono is also enshrined in Tsukinowa no misasagi along with his immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo -- Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono and Go-Sakuramachi.
Nochi no Tsukinowa no Higashiyama no misasagi
Kokaku and Ninko are enshrined at Nochi no Tsukinowa no misasagi and Komei is also enshrined in form of kofun at Nochi no Tsukinowa no Higashiyama no misasagi''.

Art

Sennyū-ji's large nehan-zu painting depicts Buddha on his death bed. This massive image is the largest in Japan. The image at nearby Tōfuku-ji is the second largest of its kind in Japan, measuring 7 meters x 14 meters. Both images are only rarely displayed, most recently in 2003 for three days only.