Shihon-ji (柿本寺) is a ruined temple (廃寺) in Tenri, Nara, Japan.

History

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Shihon-ji was the uji-dera (氏寺, "family temple") of the Kakinomoto clan.[1] It is supposedly the final resting place of the remains of the poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and so became a focal point for veneration of him once he began to be worshiped as a god of poetry.[1] A stone tablet commemorating Hitomaro at this spot is mentioned in the Fujiwara no Kiyosuke Kashū (藤原清輔家集),[1] which was likely compiled in the late 12th century.[2]

In 1337 (Kenmu 4), in the early Nanboku-chō period, the army of the Northern Court took up camp in the temple grounds and did battle with the Southern Court's forces.[1] Around the same period, the Shihon-gū Mandala (柿本宮曼荼羅 Shihon-gū Mandara) was produced here.[1] It is now in the holdings of the Yamato Bunkakan (大和文華館) and is an Important Cultural Property.[1]

It moved at some point, the date of which is uncertain, but it was likely established at its present location within the Muromachi period.[1] Until the Edo period it flourished as a place of learning for Buddhist monks practicing waka composition and tea ceremony.[1] In 1732 (Kyōhō 17), the monks of the temple and the physician Morimoto Munenori (森本宗範) erected a stone tablet (歌塚 utazuka) in the temple grounds.[1]

It was abandoned at the beginning of the Meiji period.[1]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tenri City 2014.
  2. ^ Hashimoto 1983, p. 2016.

Works cited

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  • Hashimoto, Fumio (1983). "Kiyosuke Ason Shū". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. pp. 216–217. OCLC 11917421.

34°37′13″N 135°50′03″E / 34.6202°N 135.8343°E / 34.6202; 135.8343