Yawata city
Zemporitsu-ji Temple


Edo Period
Maple Leave Autumnal Tints

Zemporitsu-ji Temple belongs to the Ritsu sect whose head temple is Toshodai-ji in Nara. The temple originated from the following fact: Zempoji Miyakiyo, a shrine officer of Iwashimizu Hachimangu, was a devotee of Saint Jisso of Todai-ji and offered his private house to convert it into a temple from 1257-59. In the Muromachi Period (1333-1568), Zempoji Michikiyo's daughter Yoshiko had a baby, who later became the 3rd Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate. Thus, the Zempoji family was closely connected with the Ashikaga family.
The temple is nicknamed Momiji-dera (maple temple) because the maple trees donated by Yoshiko are beautiful in autumn.
The main hall with its sanctuary, Takamikura, is a 5 ken square building in the mixed style of Shintoism and Buddhism (1 ken equals about 1.8 m). The temple's principal deity is the seated figure of the monk style Hachiman, which was moved from Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine to this temple according to the Meiji government's policy to separate Buddhism and Shintoism. It is said to have been made at the end of the Heian Period (794-1192).
On either side of the figure are two life-sized colored images created in the Kamakura Period (1192-1333): Aizen-myoo and Fudo-myoo. The hall located in the inmost part of the compound houses the Amida statue (made during the Period of the Southern and Northern Courts; 1337-1392) and the thousand-armed Kannon Buddha image (made during the Kamakura Period), which were formerly enshrined in Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine. Near the compound's pond is a five-storied pagoda built in the Kamakura Period.

Source: The Yawata municipal government

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