Recorded Joy·Rakuchū / Nishijin

Myoren-ji

A head temple of the Honmon Hokke sect, Myōren-ji traces its beginnings to 1294, when the monk Nichizō is said to have founded it to spread the Lotus teaching in the capital. It moved to its present site in the Teranouchi district in 1587, and its treasure hall holds thirty-eight screen panels by the Hasegawa Tōhaku school, designated Important Cultural Properties. Before the main hall lies the Sixteen Arhats stone garden, a dry landscape whose sixteen stones stand for the arhats, attributed by tradition to the gardener Gyokuenbō. Its goeshiki cherry blooms from autumn into spring, taking its name, it's said, from the goeshiki rites held on the anniversary of Nichiren's death.

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These notes come from desk research. Local traditions vary.