In 1591, TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi donated a piece of land in Horikawa / Kyôto, the site of today’s Nishi-hongan-ji, to the abbot of the temple Hongan-ji of the influential Buddhist Jôdo Shinshû school in Yamashina, which was founded in 1272. The current buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries and parts of them were taken from Fushimi-jô castle. TOKUGAWA Ieyasu sees the Jôdo-Shinshû religious community as an increasing threat and founds Higashi-hongan-ji as a competing antithesis.
other temples
