Shōgo-in Temple

Overview

Shōgo-in (聖護院) is a Buddhist temple in the Shogoin-Nakamachi neighbourhood of Sakyō-ku, in the city of Kyoto. It was founded in 1090, in year four of the Kanji era (寛治), during the Heian period. Its principal image, or honzon (本尊), is Fudō Myōō (不動明王), the immovable wisdom king.

The temple is also known as Shōgoin-monzeki (聖護院門跡). A monzeki is a temple whose abbot is drawn from the imperial family or the highest court nobility, and Shōgo-in held that rank. It is the central temple of the Honzan school of Shugendō (修験道), the Japanese mountain ascetic tradition, and it governs the regional organisations called kasumi that oversee Shugendō practitioners across the country.

Its status is measured by its abbots. Of the thirty-seven head priests who served up until the Meiji period, twenty-five came from the imperial family and twelve from the regent family. In the late Edo period the temple was used twice as a temporary imperial palace. Because of that connection, its precincts were designated a National Historic Site in 1937.

History

Shōgo-in was established in 1090, in the fourth year of the Kanji era. The temple belongs to the Heian period, the four centuries from 794 to 1185 during which the imperial capital stood at Kyoto and Japanese Buddhism produced much of its institutional architecture.

Over the following centuries the temple became the head of the Honzan school of Shugendō, the tradition of mountain ascetic practice associated with figures such as En no Gyōja. As head temple, Shōgo-in governed the kasumi, the regional bodies that controlled Shugendō practitioners throughout Japan. Shugendō practitioners, known as yamabushi, combined Buddhist, Shintō and mountain-worship elements; the Honzan school was one of its two main branches.

The abbacy reflected the temple's standing at the summit of the court hierarchy. Twenty-five of the thirty-seven head priests up to the Meiji period were members of the imperial family, and twelve came from the regent family. In the late Edo period, Shōgo-in served twice as a temporary imperial palace, sheltering the court when its usual residence was unavailable. That episode left a mark on the site: in 1937 the precincts were designated a National Historic Site.

What Stands There Today

Shōgo-in stands in Sakyō-ku, in the north-eastern part of Kyoto, in the neighbourhood of Shogoin-Nakamachi. The temple's grounds include Shakuzen-in (積善院), a dependent sub-temple within the complex.

The temple is enrolled in several pilgrimage circuits. It is a member of the En no Gyōja Reiseki Fudasho, a circuit of sites connected with En no Gyōja, the legendary founder of Shugendō. It also belongs to the Kinki Thirty-six Fudoson Sacred Ground, a circuit of thirty-six temples in the Kinki region dedicated to Fudō Myōō, and to the Shinbutsu Reijō Junpai no Michi, a pilgrimage route linking sites associated with the blending of Shintō and Buddhist practice.

The temple is also recorded as the place of death of Mukai Kyorai, the Edo-period haikai poet.

The Name in Japanese

The temple's name is written 聖護院. It is read in kana as しょうごいん, and in romaji as Shōgoin. The final ん is a syllabic n, and the long ō in the second syllable is held roughly twice as long as a short o.

The name breaks into three characters:

聖 — read here as しょう (shō). This kanji means "holy", "sacred" or "sage". It appears in words such as 聖地 (seichi), a sacred place, and 聖人 (seijin), a saint or sage. In temple names it signals a foundation of high religious rank.

護 — read here as ご (go). This kanji means "protect", "guard" or "defend". It is the same character used in 護身 (goshin), self-protection, and in 守護 (shugo), guardianship. In a temple name it carries the sense of a sacred power that shields the faithful.

院 — read here as いん (in). This kanji originally meant "institution" or "building", and in Japanese temple nomenclature it commonly denotes a cloister, a sub-temple, or a monastic establishment. It appears in the names of many Kyoto temples and in the word 寺院 (jiin), a Buddhist temple.

Together the three characters give a name that can be read as "the cloister of sacred protection". The same 院 in the name is why the temple is called Shōgoin-monzeki when its imperial-abbot status is being emphasised: 門跡 (monzeki) means a temple lineage headed by a prince or a noble.

Visiting and Context

Shōgo-in sits in Sakyō-ku, the ward that covers the north-eastern quarter of Kyoto, an area dense with temples and shrines at the foot of the eastern hills. The temple's coordinates place it at roughly 35.02 degrees north, 135.78 degrees east.

For readers of Japanese, the name repays attention. The kanji 聖, 護 and 院 each appear constantly in Japanese religious and place vocabulary, and the pattern of a two-character religious concept plus 院 is one of the most common shapes a temple name takes. Recognising 院 as a temple suffix, and 門跡 as the marker of an imperial or noble abbacy, makes the names of many Kyoto temples legible at a glance.

Shōgo-in's position in the landscape of Japanese religion is unusual. It is at once a Kyoto temple with a Heian-period foundation, the head of a nationwide school of mountain asceticism, a former imperial palace, and a stop on three separate pilgrimage circuits. Each of those roles is visible in the names attached to it: Shōgo-in, Shōgoin-monzeki, and its listings among the Fudōson and Shinbutsu pilgrimage routes.