Jōraku-ji | |
Native Name: | 常楽寺 |
Map Type: | Japan Shiga Prefecture#Japan |
Map Alt: | Location in Japan |
Relief: | 1 |
Location: | 6-5-1 Nishidera, Konan-shi, Shiga-ken 520-3121 |
Coordinates: | 34.9901°N 136.0486°W |
Religious Affiliation: | Buddhist |
Rite: | Tendai |
Deity: | Senjū Kannon |
Country: | Japan |
Year Completed: | c.708-715 |
thumb|right|280px|Three-story Pagoda (NT) is a Buddhist temple in the city of Konan, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism. Its main image is a hibutsu statue of Senjū Kannon. Its Hondō and Three-story Pagoda are both National Treasures.:[1] It is also referred to as, whereas the temple of is referred to as .
The history of Jōraku-ji is uncertain, as the documentary evidence of its foundation has been lost. The temple's legend states that it was founded by Rōben at the request of Empress Genmei during the Wadō era (708-715), into order to project the spiritually vulnerable northeastern quadrant from Shigaraki Palace. It was changed to the Tendai sect during the Enryaku era (782-806). Throughout the Heian and Kamakura periods, the temple enjoyed the patronage of successive emperors. Jōraku-ji was destroyed by a fire in 1360, but was soon rebuilt. In the Sengoku period, followers of the Ikkō-ikki movement made the area around what is now the city of Moriyama as their stronghold. Oda Nobunaga sent Sakuma Nobumori at the head of an army to destroy the movement, and Sakuma made Jōraku-ji his field headquarters. The temple impressed the young Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who later removed its Niōmon gate (built in 1452) for use in Fushimi Castle. It was later relocated again by Tokugawa Ieyasu to Mii-dera in 1601, where it remains to this day.
The temple is the first stop in the a pilgrimage route founded in 1734 modeled after the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, but with all 33 temples located in Ōmi Province.
The temple is ten-minutes by car from Ishibe Station on the JR West Kusatsu Line.
The temple also has a number of statues which are National Important Cultural Properties