Recorded Joy·Rakuchū / Kyoto Station

Nishi Hongan-ji

The Karamon gate here is said to be called the "Higurashi-mon," the sunset gate, because one can lose the day admiring its carvings. Within the grounds stands the Hiun-kaku, counted among Kyoto's "three famous pavilions" alongside the Golden and Silver Pavilions—asymmetrical yet balanced, and normally closed to the public. That the temple is the "West" traces to the 1602 division of Hongan-ji. Against a backdrop of moderate and hardline factions during the Ishiyama war, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Kyōnyo land at Shichijō-Karasuma to found a separate Higashi Hongan-ji, while this temple, continued by Junnyo, remained the head of the Hongwanji-ha.

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These notes come from desk research. Local traditions vary.